The Orange Awareness Ribbon

The orange ribbon is a symbol adopted for a very wide variety of uses.

• The orange ribbon represents the humanity against extreme software patents and software piracy. There are several threats against Open Source projects that we need to protect. We need support software freedom overall. Richard Stallman, the creator of GNU General Public License believes that free software talks about freedom, rather than about price. His ideas go a long way into ensuring development of software for the welfare of society, collectively developed by programmers who do not “lock up” their work, but rather release it for others to study, modify and redistribute. Stallman is aware about the danger of software patents. In fact this is one of the most important aspect of the freedom of programming because the aspect of software patents may make all programmers potential lawbreakers because unknowingly they may be violating some of the patents registered by some other company.

• The orange ribbon is worn as a symbol representing Harmony Day, coinciding with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The ribbon shows awareness of Racial Tolerance, or Cultural Diversity

• The orange ribbon also shows awareness of human rights in Tibet, leukemia, feral cats, motorcyclist safety, Multiple Sclerosis,melanoma, Agent Orange exposure, Hunger Awareness, Lupus, Deep Vein Thrombosis Awareness Month and the Kidney Cancer Association (adopted the color orange to protect it and the words "kidney cancer" as part of our registered trademark). "home page".website. Kidney Cancer Association. 2008-07-04.

• It is also the symbol for Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), also referred to as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)

• In Italy Marathon winner Marija Vrajic (CRO) and 1060 other participants of the Night Marathon in Jesolo & Cavallino Treporti on the 7th of June 2008, wore an orange ribbon for Human Rights in Tibet.

• In Austria on the 18 May 2008 at the Austrian Woman's Run 3000 woman were running with an orange ribbon in support of human rights in Tibet. On the 27th of April 2008 at the Vienna City Marathon 2300 athletes were wearing an orange ribbon in support for human rights in Tibet. The Initiative Go Orange for Tibet aims to encourage sportsmen to highlight human rights violation in Tibet before, during and after the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing through an orange ribbon.

• It is a symbol of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004. The orange color denotes the color of the opposition party of Viktor Yushchenko. (Ribbons are common symbols of non-violent protest.)

• In Israel, orange ribbons indicate opposition to the Israel "disengagement" plan of 2004 (blue ribbons indicate support). The color was adopted by disengagement opponents on advice from Adir Zik. Although the disengagement was executed in 2005, supporters continue to use the color as a symbol of general opposition to further withdrawals. Often written on the post-Disengagement ribbons is the phrase "לא נשכח ולא נסלח" ("we will not forget and we will not forgive").

• In Australia, orange ribbons were worn on Fridays in support of the release of Australian citizen David Matthew Hicks during his detention in Guantanamo Bay for 5 years without charge. It was originally an initiative called 'Orange Fridays' supported by Amnesty International, demanding that David Hicks be returned to Australia to face a fair trial or be released.

• In the United States, the orange ribbon shows support for the ACLU Close Guantánamo Campaign. In the San Francisco Bay Areaactivist group Act Against Torture uses it as part of their campaign to close Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. detention facilities, in reference to the orange jumpsuits which detainees are made to wear.

• At county and state fairs in the United States, an orange ribbon is awarded to the competitor finishing in sixth place in a contest.

• A reflective orange ribbon is used by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association Transportation Development Foundation to promote work zone safety awareness, and to honor roadway construction workers who have died at work.

• In Canada, orange ribbons are worn as an awareness ribbon symbolizes Addiction Recovery. Addiction is defined to include ANY “uncontrolled compulsive use” or compulsive obsessive behavior that makes life unmanageable. The campaign was launched on October 1, 2004 by the non-profit group R.A.F.T. for their first “Walk for Recovery”. It has since been adopted by a number of other support groups who battle addictions.

• In Canada, orange ribbons are worn to support the New Democratic Party candidate Nicolas R. Thibodeau in Mount Royal. The Orange Ribbon Foundation concern is to support Integrity, Democracy, Equality, Environment and Security in the political ring. The campaign was launched on January 23, 2007 when he was reinvestited a year after his first attempt to represent Mount royal constituents.

• In the province of New Brunswick in Canada, orange ribbons are worn in response to the New Brunswick government's plan to sell many of the assets of New Brunswick Power (NB Power) to Hydro-Québec. The ribbons serve many purposes including making the public aware of the proposed sale, and making the government aware of the public opposition to the deal.

• An orange ribbon or orange-and-white ribbon is an awareness ribbon for Self Injury Awareness Day (SIAD) (March 1). SIAD promotes awareness and support of those people who self harm. They were formerly colored red, blue and black.

• In Sweden, the orange ribbon was the common symbol for a change of government in the national election in September 2006. The orange ribbon is an initiative from The Young Conservatives, The Young Liberals, The Young Christian-Democrats and The Young Center.

• In Botswana, the National Association for the Preservation of the Botswanan Mongoose uses an orange ribbon as the symbol for its annual fund-raising competition, held amongst children under the age of 15.

• In Singapore, the orange ribbon is promoted as a symbol of racial and religious harmony. It is also used to show support for the independent music scene.

• In the United States, the orange ribbon has been officially registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as the Animal Guardian Ribbon, a symbol used to raise public awareness of at-risk animals. The Animal Guardian Ribbon was created in 2003 by Rational Animal, a nonprofit media animal advocacy group in conjunction with the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City’s Animals. At-risk animals are defined as those “non-human animals who suffer from neglect or abuse or whose very lives and well-being are in jeopardy.

Source: http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/607399

Free Lung Cancer Screening for Veterans.

November 1- 11, 2013 Veterans are encouraged to get a lung cancer screening free of charge.

http://www.bestcare.org/mhsbase/mhs.cfm/SRC=MD010/SRCN=newsdetail/GnavID=71/HLNewsItemID=3301

My favorite actress Lucille Ball!

Lucille Ball, who starred in “I Love Lucy,” was born on August 6, 1911 and died on August 26, 1989 at the age of 77. Her career peaked in the 1950s with the success of “I Love Lucy” and other sitcoms including “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” “The Lucy Show,” “Here’s Lucy” and “Life With Lucy,” and she continued making films through the 1960s and 1970s.

Lucille Ball was also the first woman to run a major television studio with Desilu, which she owned with then-husband Desi Arnaz. Ball took over as sole owner in 1962 when she bought out Arnaz’s share of the studio after their 1960 divorce. She married her second husband, standup comedia Gary Morton, in 1961.

She began her film career in the 1930s and became known as “Queen of the B’s” for starring in a number of B-movies. She also began working in radio.

In 1940, Ball met her future husband, bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the stage hit “Too Many Girls.” The couple eloped in the same year.

In 1948, Ball was cast as a wacky wife in a radio program called “My Favorite Husband” and was asked to develop it for television. Ball agreed but insisted on working with Arnaz. CBS executives were reluctant to hire Arnaz because he was Cuban, so the couple began touring as a vaudeville act to great success. CBS then put “I Love Lucy” on their lineup and the rest was history.

After ending her career in sitcoms, Ball continued to work in film, including starring in the 1968 film “Yours, Mine and Ours” and the 1974 musical film “Mame.” Ball died on April 26, 1989 of an aortic rupture.

Vertical Gardening...

Squeeze more vegetables into small spaces with trellises.

When you grow your vining vegetables upward, you use less ground space. This increases your yield per square foot because you can fit more plants into the garden. But saving space is just one reason to grow your plants on trellises. Here are some other advantages to growing up:

• Monitoring and controlling pests is easier because they're right in front of your face.
• Harvesting is also easier, as there's no stooping or hunching over.
• No more waste due to overripe fruits that are hidden under lush growth.
• Vertical gardens increase accessibility for gardeners with disabilities because they can tend and pick from a chair or garden seat.
   

So the benefits of trellising are clear. Before you set up a trellis, though, keep in mind these two important points:

• Situate trellises along the north side of your garden to prevent shading other plants.
• Anchor your trellises to protect them from the wind and to handle the weight of the plants by sinking trellis posts 24 inches deep.

What can you grow vertically?

Tomatoes.
Trellis nonbush or indeterminate types, which keep growing and producing fruits until frost. (Determinate varieties are often bushy.) Check out this plan for a sturdy tomato tower.

Peas, Cucumbers.

Grow nonbush varieties on trellises. Bush types don't need trellising; their vines reach only 4 to 6 feet long.

Pole beans, Gourds, Melons.
As a general rule, any variety with fruits smaller than a volleyball can be trellised. Vines will grow strong enough to hold the weight of the fruit, so there's no need to support fruits with individual hammocks.

Squash and pumpkins.
Small-fruited and nonbush types, such as miniature pumpkins, and acorn and buttercup squash, are suitable for trellising. Here are plans for a simple squash trellis.

For more vertical gardening ideas, check out Derek Fell's book, Vertical Gardening.

Source:  http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/vertical-gardening

Dave's Words of Wisdom: Life Is Ironic

Dave's Words of Wisdom: Life Is Ironic

The history of Memorial Day!

On May 5, 1868, began what we now know as Memorial Day observed on the 4th Sunday of May.

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.

Local Observances Claim To Be First Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.

Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried.

Official Birthplace Declared In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.

By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.

It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.

Some States Have Confederate Observances Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26. North and South Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day.

Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest flowers of springtime” urged: “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was approximately the same size as those that attend today’s observance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave — a tradition followed at many national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.

The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.”

To ensure the sacrifices of America ’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,” P.L. 106-579, creating the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance. The commission’s charter is to “encourage the people of the United States to give something back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging and coordinating commemorations in the United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance.

The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. As Moment of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada states: “It’s a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day.”

Source: http://www.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/history.asp

Month of May Dedicated to Appreciating Servicemembers

On May 1, 2007, Congress designated May as National Military Appreciation Month.

“Our military has played a major role in the development of our country chronicled through their unbending honor, their dedication to duty and their love of country,” the National Military Appreciation Month Web site states. “Federal, state and local governments and private sector entities are invited to participate in this special month and to encourage everyone to sponsor and participate in programs.” 

The Web site, www.nmam.org, encourages citizens to draw attention and express appreciation to military families across the nation by engaging schools, civic organizations and businesses to organize events like visiting veterans hospitals, making trips to military memorials and museums, and decorating with patriotic themes.

The site also features a map of the United States which lists local Military Appreciation Month events in each state. 

The Defense Department is taking part in the month-long celebration with America Supports You, a DoD program highlighting the support of grassroots groups and corporate partners to the armed forces, co-hosting events throughout the nation. 

The program will take part in events like the McDonald’s Air & Sea Show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; the Joint Services Open House at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.; and Professional Golfers’ Association events across the nation. An America Supports You concert featuring singer Jenny Boyle is slated for May 4 at the Pentagon. NASCAR will unveil an ASY car at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., on May 8. 

The Washington Capitals hockey team have scheduled a Military Appreciation Day at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., for May 11. 

ASY team member Shauna Fleming, founder of A Million Thanks has teamed up with Buick, Pontiac and GMC divisions of General Motors to collect thank you letters from the public for the troops. People can drop off their letters in Shauna’s red, white and blue boxes at GM car dealers across the nation. For more information and to see Shauna’s videos go to www.amillionthanks.org. 

Discovery is producing a series of "Thank You's" for The Military Channel where citizens from all over the country will be "thanking the troops" for all their service to our country. 

The months of May and June host a number of other patriotic commemorations, including Victory in Europe Day, Military Spouse Day, Loyalty Day, Armed Forces Week, Memorial Day, Flag Day and the observance of the Navy and Army birthdays. 

Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1826902/posts