Calling Countries free on Jaxtr

Here is a list of countries that you can call for free from the United States. Thought this would be useful information, as Jaxtr is a good way to communicate for free to others around the world.

Argentina Australia Austria Bahrain
Belgium Brazil Bulgaria Canada
Chile China Croatia Republic of Cyprus
Czech Republic Denmark El Salvador Estonia
Finland France Georgia Germany
Greece Guatemala Hong Kong Hungary
India Iran Ireland Israel
Italy Japan Jordan Latvia
Lithuania Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico
Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan
Panama Poland Republic of Korea Romania
Russian Federation Singapore Slovakia Slovenia
South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland
Thailand United Kingdom United States

Earth Day Week’s Activities in Tallahassee

Get out in your community and celebrate the Earth. You and I live on it, it is our home, whether we like it or not, and we need to honor our home. Below are events in Tallahassee supporting Earth Day throughout the week.

Saturday, April 18

Cash for Trash at Solid Waste Services, 2727 Municipal Way, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

2009 Earth Day Jam at the Bradfordville Blues Club, 7152 Moses Lane, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Celebrate the importance of the Earth Day observance in today’s world at this musical festival and environmental exhibition.
Monday, April 20

Capital City Kiwanis Club meeting at Golden Corral, 1630 N. Monroe Street, 12:30-1 p.m. A City representative from EPER will speak about “Earth Friendly Environment for the Workplace.”

EPER’s Green Thumb Project from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. at Lake Ella. EPER will participate in planting butterfly bushes and pruning of existing plantings.
Wednesday, April 22 (Earth Day)

Earth Day at the Capitol in Waller Park (west side of the Capitol building facing S. Duval Street), 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is hosting this event to educate teachers and students on ways to green their schools. The event is expected to draw approximately 1,000 students.

Earth Day at SouthWood at the Capital Circle Office Complex, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Earth Day at SouthWood will be an educational event to promote living “Green” for state employees.

Meals on Wheels at Elder Care Services, 2518 W. Tennessee Street, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A City representative from EPER will speak about “Earth Friendly Environment for the Workplace.”
Thursday, April 23

Sustainability Planning and Reporting Kit (SpaRK) Training at the Challenger Learning Center, located on Kleman Plaza at 200 S. Duval Street, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sustainable Florida will host a training session titled, The Business Guide to Sustainability and SpaRK.
Friday, April 24

Florida Department of Education (DOE) Conservation Committee at the DOE Lobby, 325 W. Gaines Street, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. DOE is hosting an energy and environmental exhibition for its employees.
Saturday, April 25

Compost Bin Sale in the Tallahassee Mall parking lot near the Ross Store, 2415 N. Monroe Street, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Free Community Shredding Event at the Tallahassee Police Department (234 East 7th Avenue) from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Shred-it Tallahassee will be hosting a free community-wide shred event. Please contact their office at 309-1996 for additional information.

Paper or Plastic? I’ll take neither! Reusable Bag Campaign from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Downtown Farmers’ Market, located at the Chain of Parks in Downtown Tallahassee, to promote waste reduction through the use of reusable bags.

Crawl spaces good hiding places

Many people have a crawl space underneath their home.  This home is set up on piers and cement blocks, or bricks. There may be enough space under the house to either stand up, nearly stand up, or limited space with crawling as the only way to maneuver through. These crawl spaces are rarely ever entered in by the homeowner, but these spaces are wonderful hiding spots.

Think of all that can be hidden in a crawl space: money, gold, guns, ammunition, illegal substances, collectibles, treasures, even people. A homeless individual can make a home in a crawl space, providing there is enough room to get around inside it. The people living above, inside the house, would probably not even know that someone is using their crawl space as a storage center, or home, since they would probably not be brave enough to enter into the dark, dirty space that is a crawl space.  How many people are going to want to get dirty, crawling in a crawl space, with spiders, rats and other possible creatures inhabiting this dark, or semi dark world under the house?

If it becomes a desperate situation in America, and I needed a place to hide my gold, and guns from the government, I would probably find a crawl space under the house of an unsuspecting family to safely hide what I have. The government would have no idea where it is. Hahaha. Of course it would have to be a house without a dog, or a lot of members in the household, so as not to be seen. I would have to sneak in after dark probably, or when the family is away. 

Just like the network established by the Sons of Liberty, during the American Revolution of the 1700’s, a network could be setup of people with connections to available crawl spaces for hiding, protection, and deposit of objects for safe storage. A network of new American Revolutionaries could use crawl spaces under houses to hide each other when government forces are searching, or to hide weapons if the time comes when the government decides that the Second Amendment is worthless, and Americans have no right to own guns. There could be room in crawl spaces for an arsenal of weapons to defend the cause of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Maps could be made of crawl space locations, and distributed among the new Sons of Liberty, or those in the cause of defending liberty, whether is it the right to own, and use gold, barter objects, or keep arms. 

The early Americans knew that to defend liberty from governmental abuse, and criminals, Americans need to be armed. The gun defended liberty, and most families owned guns in much of America’s history. The creators of the Constitution felt that this right was so important that they added the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. It is a valuable right.  Already, there are too many restrictions, limitations on this fundamental right of liberty. One answer may very well be to hide weapons of liberty, in crawl spaces. 

Here in Tallahassee, Florida, there are many crawl spaces. Of course not all houses have them.  Many houses are built on monolithic slabs (cement slabs), and do not have any space under the house. I live in such a house. In fact, no house in my neighborhood has a crawl space. However, I know what neighborhoods have crawl spaces, and there are many.  Creating a map of crawl spaces, which houses have them, where the entrance to the crawl spaces are, the movement patterns of the house residents, would be a daunting task, but it can be done.  A digital camera or camera phone would be a useful tool in this endeavor.

We may need to find a space to hide and protect our gold, if government decides that it needs that too. I can’t imagine that  government officials or their pawns would be going into crawl spaces looking for hidden gold.

Never forget that we all have a right to protect our lifestyle, providing it is not a lifestyle that harms another.

Enjoying the sun on St George Island

Today, I took my family to the beach. When we got to St George Island, near Tallahassee, Florida, we were one of the first families there. It was kind of cool, but the sky was blue, after the black clouds disappeared.  My son found a place in the sand to dig a hole. He started digging until mom said, “let’s go for a walk up the beach.” We walk a long way, until my son started getting cranky about walking, and wanted to go back to build a sand castle with me. We built a sand casle it was as big as a boulder, until a big wave came and busted it. That happens, like low tides and high tides. 

Next week, son goes camping with his boy scout troop, and the following weekend, we will again go to St George Island and have another merry day at the beach. 

Having grown up by the sea, I appreciate all the beauty the sea and the coastline offer: seagulls making their music, white sand dunes, sound of the waves coming to the shore, and the warm summer waters of the Gulf of Mexico. I can’t neglect to mention the sunsets on the beach. 

St George Island is one of my favorite beaches, among the beaches of the northwest Florida coastline.

This day will be remembered in my technology world

Big child, or little child, many of us get so animated about the latest in technology. I have been that way, until yesterday. You see, yesterday, I decided, after several years of having a smart phone, to downgrade to a simpler lifestyle, and get a Boost Mobile prepaid phone. I never thought I would stoop down that low, after I have been all over promoting mobile technology, and the cool things that can be done on the smart phone. I even taught folks about how to use that technology to the maximum benefit.  I have no regrets for this change, and I am very comfortable with the simplicity, and good looks of the Boost Mobile Motorola i335. It is phone, and text messenging service, but with the other cool features you come to expect in the phone, but  that is not the strong point of this phone. The Motorola i335 is a simple, pure cell phone with primitive text messenging (no querty keyboard). 

Why did I make this big change in lifestyle. I just don’t need the contracts, big monthly bills, and luxury of a Blackberry Curve, or a Treo 700, both phones that I recently owned. I have a laptop and a PC anyway, and can live comfortably using those tools to meet my high technology needs, and social media activities. The smart phone can go, go, go, far away from me. Too much luxury for a simple man like me. 

Yes, I will miss my mobile camera, but you know, I have a very good, small, digital camera that I can take most anywhere, and upload pics to my laptop or PC. I use Picassa, and PhotoBucket. I have what I need. I am tired of so much sophistication, and keeping up with the latest tech toys. I now agree, that a phone is a phone with a few add ons, like calendar, memos, text messenging. 

Besides, I am soon getting a small Acer Laptop, which will serve as my portable internet tool, and email tool.

My son, however, is going uphill, to higher technological reaches, I suppose. Today, I bought him the new DSI. It came out just today. He is on it now as I keyboard this blog post. I am happy for him, as he, like I, really get into technology. I get into the blog and social media part of technology, and he gets into the tech games, and camera tool.  He is so happy. 

I will be as happy as him, and more so, possibly, when I get my new Acer laptop, in a week or a few weeks. I can’t wait. High tech in some areas, but simple, low tech in the mobile phone.  I can embrace this change in lifestyle. I would never think of giving up on a laptop. My Dell laptop has been my passion since 2004, when I upgraded from a Compaq laptop.

My needs in a phone have changed, but my love of technology remain strong and enduring.

Here Is What I Would Barter

Right here in Tallahassee, Florida, people are bartering goods and services. Just go to the bartering page on Craigslist for Tallahassee and you will see a lot of bartering interest.

People discuss bartering on Twitter, and since I am on Twitter, I like to contact users who like the bartering economic idea. I see bartering as a lifestyle, and alternative to the monetary system, one that works, and has centuries of history and prehistory supporting it. Bartering is older than money, and older than governments. People who think like this and support ideas outside the status quo, are some of the Twitter users and other online users I like connecting with.

I would like to meet people here in Tallahassee and beyond, who would like to barter with me, and make bartering a workable way of life. I know it can be done. I have bartered before with no money involved.

Bartering involves freedom from paying taxes, and having to live from paycheck to paycheck. During Argentina’s last big economic crisis, neighborhood bartering groups formed, and unemployed or underemployed people survived well by bartering. In American history, people bartered with one another. We don’t read much about that in the history books, since bartering as an economic system is left out of most books, that I have seen, or heard about. Both rich and poor can benefit by bartering. Some people barter in private without reporting it anywhere. This is the freedom of bartering.

Someone the other day asked me what I can barter. Well, here is a list of services I can barter with others, for either their services, goods, or assistance.

I can:

Set up a blog and make blog posts.
Offer HTML coding for websites.
Teach/tutor Spanish.
Write and edit articles/blogs.
Market goods or services online for companies or individuals.
Do basic computer office work.
Work in an organic garden.
Prepare an organic garden.
Paint walls.
Research data.
Get information from competitors.

There are the goods I can offer in a bartering exchange as well. I have household good I can barter for services or other goods I may need. Besides my own goods, I can purchase more goods at low cost on EBAY, Craigslist, yardsales, and other bartering folks, and uses those goods for bartering.

Like money, bartering is a system, but one in which the individual has control, and there are no governmental rules. We make the rules.

I can barter skills that I have acquired in various jobs I have had in (education, pest control, call center helpdesk, technology, social services, sales).

Let’s get together and barter. Find others in your own neighborhood who want to barter, and go for it. Take control of your day, and make a new living by bartering. I will be seeking out people in Tallahassee who want to barter with me.

The World of Work

I wake up giving gratitude for the goodness of God’s creation. I admire all His perfection, and harmony. God is good. This I have always believed, demonstrated, and understood.  Mom and Dad taught me much about God, His kindness, goodness, allness, perfection, everpresence, and love.

One day, my son asked me, “Dad, why to you have to go to work everyday?” That made me think. You see, a child does not understand why mom or dad can’t be home and do things with the child. I responded back saying, “Son, I have to work to pay the bills so we can live comfortably.” Son responded back by saying, ” Dad, can’t you take some days off so you and I can do things together.” I said, “Son, when you grow up and go to work for somebody else, you have to give away part of your life, part of what you want. Yes, I want to be with you more than going to work, but employers are not in the family relations business, the empathy business, and some bosses do not like employees taking even one day off, while others will allow a few days taken off, but very few employers will actually encourage employees to take sufficient time off to be with family.”

I then discussed the nature of work, at the level that an 11 year old can follow. I explained that working for somebody else is not freedom, that freedom comes when you can work for yourself, have your own successful business, being an entrepreneur. Although, that requires much responsibility, and hard work. I have been in both worlds, and appreciate the benefits of entrepreneurship, as well as the benefits of working for someone else. 

You see, there are two types of work: 1. Working for yourself, by having your own business, and 2. Working for someone else, a company that hires employees. Both serve their purpose, although, the second one is typically not family oriented.  The history of employer-employee relations has had its sour record, and old school bosses still work in the new school world. I have experienced different management styles, and employer-employee relationships. Experience makes us better observers.

My son will have to make his work choices later in life, but, I am one of his life’s teachers. I hope I can teach him well.

People I meet on Twitter

Twitter is a fabulous micro-blogging tool for growing your social, or business network. It does work. I have over 2000 followers under one screen name, and almost 200 under a newer screen name, both within just weeks. What does this mean?

It means that Twitter is a popular micro-blogging tool, and people make contacts quickly on that site. Why? Twitter is about updating events, telling stories, giving opinions, quoting from others, sharing ideas, meeting others, promoting products and services, and connecting socially with common interests. The posts are brief messages of communication, and bloggers have to make sure that their words deliver the intent of their message. Space limitation makes better writers sometimes, or maybe, all the time. I know my writing has improved since I have been tweeting, as they call it on Twitter. People can follow each other by clicking the follow button in each user’s profile.

Twitter may become the most popular website, even more so than Facebook, and MySpace. People want the direct messages, to the point, and direct contacts, that micro-blogging gives. Twitter is simple, user friendly, and easy to keep your contacts in place, along with all their messages. There are simple buttons to click, to look up user profiles, and to determine if a user is one you want to follow. As you start posting on Twitter, you will find people who will follow you, and you them. 

A business today finds Twitter to be one of the best advertising tools on the net, although, you cannot spam, or use Twitter to only sell. Twitter is a social media tool, a micro-blogging service, and people do get turned off by over zealous sales people using Twitter for profit reasons only. Where business people can benefit is if they indirectly present their services or products, and also talk about their interests, and events. People will be attracted, and this will gain more followers for businesses and sales people. 

Hope to see you on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/KenFach