Blog Your Blessing : True Peace


True Peace
Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. Dalai Lama


The Blue Panther Experience is host for Blog Your Blessings Sunday. Visit the blog, grab the blogroll code, add it to your blog, and leave a comment. On the next Sunday, post your blessing, visit others on the blogroll so they will view your BYBS post. We are of all faiths, creeds and races, so everyone is welcome. Join us on any Sunday as we blog our blessings.

Blog Your Blessing : Non-Violent Activism

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., studied Gandhi's teachings in college. In 1959, Martin Luther King Jr. went to India to further understand Mahatma Gandhi's tactics of passive resistance. From Gandhi, he learned that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.

This principle of passive resistance or civil disobedience is credited with winning civil rights for black Americans. No matter what, no protester ever fought back while the Rev. King was alive. To use violence would have nullified everything in which Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi believed.

After a horrific scene in Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, during which black demonstrators were attacked with fire hoses, cattle prods and police dogs, President John F. Kennedy, Jr. addressed the nation on television about the issue of civil rights. All through 1963, JFK worked to pass a moderate civil rights bill. President Kennedy was assassinated in November of that year.

After the assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson rode the 1964 Civil Rights Act through Congress. Although codifying civil rights in law was a step in the right direction, Rev. King struggled for four more years until he was assassinated by a sniper on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN.



This month, Martin Luther King, III visited India as his father had done 50 years earlier. He paid homage to Gandhi, voicing a causal link between the teaching of Gandhi, the tools used by Rev. King to free his people, and how Barack Obama was elected President of the USA.



The Blue Panther Experience is host for Blog Your Blessings Sunday. Visit the blog, grab the blogroll code, add it to your blog, and leave a comment. On the next Sunday, post your blessing, visit others on the blogroll so they will view your BYBS post. We are of all faiths, creeds and races, so everyone is welcome. Join us on any Sunday as we blog our blessings.


Great Game of Google Quality Score

I feel like a pinball in the Great Game of G@@gle. My blogs have been going up and down in PageRank so fast, I cannot keep up with them. If any of your blogs took a hit in page rank, and you care, this might be a good use of your time.

Search Marketing Now Webcast
Understanding Googles Quality Score: Myths and Misconceptions
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - 1:00 PM EST
Free-but you must register.

If nothing else, perhaps we could ask the experts about the quality of G@@gle customer service (non-existent), fixing bugs in Blogger (no support), why they changed feed URLs in Feedburner (everyone lost subscribers), and what is the purpose of the Adsense Pin (waste of environmental resources)?


Blog Your Blessing : Shelter from the Storm


During World War II, Miep Sies, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, Bep Voskuijl, Jan Gies and Johan Voskuijl hid eight Jewish people from the Germans. The Jewish folk lived in the Secret Annex at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam until they were betrayed and arrested.

Miep saved Anne Frank's writings, including Anne Frank's Diary, and gave them to Anne's father after the war. Unfortunately, Anne and her sister Margot died in Bergen-Belsen and her mother perished in Auschwitz.

On F
ebruary 15, 2009, Miep Gies will celebrate her 100th birthday. Miep remains deeply involved in keeping alive the memory of Anne Frank. Although her life has been spent spreading the story of Anne Frank, she does not think of herself as a hero.

In the words of Miep Gies:
I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did or more – much more - during those dark and terrible times years ago, but always like yesterday in the hearts of those of us who bear witness. Never a day goes by that I do not think of what happened then.

Happy Birthday, Miep Gies!!

You did not stand by and do nothing as so many did.
You provided Shelter to Anne and her family from the Nazi Storm.

God Bless You and Angels Protect You!



The Blue Panther Experience is host for Blog Your Blessings Sunday. Visit the blog, grab the blogroll code, add it to your blog, and leave a comment. On the next Sunday, post your blessing, visit others on the blogroll so they will view your BYBS post. We are of all faiths, creeds and races, so everyone is welcome. Join us on any Sunday as we blog our blessings.

WWF PSA Features "White Winter Hymnal"



Full Credits

Client: WWF
Agency: Leo Burnett, Sydney
Executive Creative Director: Andy DiLallo,
Jay Benjamin
Copywriter: Rupert Taylor
Art Director: Dave Ladd
Agency Producer: Adrian Shapiro
Production Company: XYZ Studios
Director: Stephen Watkins
Producer: Hamish Macdonald
Musical Artist: Fleet Foxes
Song: White Winter Hymnal

Not everyone is an environmental supporter. I believe this PSA may change the minds of some people. The blending of music, style and animation builds a sense of belonging to something larger than us and prompts us to take action to protect it.

I think this video PSA is effective in demonstrating how you may BE the change you want to see in the world. What do you think?

View other videos for WWF on YouTube.

Tip of the Hat to Creativity-Online


Blog Your Blessing : Overcoming Obstacles


Success is to be measured

Not so much by the position

That one has reached in life . . .

As by the obstacles

That he has overcome

While trying to succeed.


Booker T. Washington






The Blue Panther Experience is host for Blog Your Blessings Sunday. Visit the blog, grab the blogroll code, add it to your blog, and leave a comment on Blue Panther Experience. Next Sunday, post your blessing. We are of all faiths, creeds and races, so everyone is welcome. Join us on any Sunday as we blog our blessings

Tags: , ,


CPSIA : 1 year stay on testing and certification

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products

The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children’s garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission.

The stay will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, at which time a Commission vote will be taken to terminate the stay.

However, all businesses, including, but not limited to, handmade toy and apparel makers, crafters and home-based small businesses, must still be sure that their products conform to all safety standards and similar requirements, including the lead and phthalates provisions of the CPSIA.

Handmade garment makers are cautioned to know whether the zippers, buttons and other fasteners they are using contain lead. Likewise, handmade toy manufacturers need to know whether their products, if using plastic or soft flexible vinyl, contain phthalates.

The stay of enforcement on testing and certification does not address thrift and second hand stores and small retailers because they are not required to test and certify products under the CPSIA. Guidance for these companies that can be found here: CPSC Clarifies Requirements of New Children’s Product Safety Laws Taking Effect in February Guidance Intended for Resellers of Children’s Products, Thrift and Consignment Stores.

The stay does not apply to: four requirements for third-party testing and certification of certain children’s products subject to:
  • The ban on lead in paint and other surface coatings effective for products made after December 21, 2008;
  • The standards for full-size and non full-size cribs and pacifiers effective for products made after January 20, 2009;
  • - The ban on small parts effective for products made after February 15, 2009; and
  • - The limits on lead content of metal components of children’s jewelry effective for products made after March 23, 2009.
  • Certification requirements applicable to ATV’s manufactured after April 13, 2009.
  • Pre-CPSIA testing and certification requirements, including for: automatic residential garage door openers, bike helmets, candles with metal core wicks, lawnmowers, lighters, mattresses, and swimming pool slides; and
  • Pool drain cover requirements of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act.


Post written 1/29/09 but not published yet:

Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) after the scare last year over Chinese toys with lead paint. The CPSIA stands for Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a new set of laws that will come into effect on 10 February, 2009 and will impact many people in a negative way.

With few exceptions, the law covers all products intended for children under 12.

This includes:

  • Clothing, fabric and textile goods, diapers, hair bands, sports pennants, Scouting patches, local school-logo gear. Many resale shops are eliminating children’s items all together to avoid future lawsuits.
  • Paper goods: books, flash cards, board games, baseball cards, kits for home schoolers, party supplies.
  • Sporting equipment: outdoor gear, bikes, backpacks and telescopes.
  • Furniture: all furnishings meant for a child's room.
  • Recorded media: video game cartridges, audio books
  • Adaptive gear: Specialized assistive and therapeutic gear used by children with disabilities.
It also includes:

Handmade items: scrapbook layouts, knitted scarves/hats/sweaters, anything beaded, painted or made with leather, anything in the Etsy stores and many eBay stores.



The government with a heart. Administrators decided since they did not know what to do exactly, they should back off until they may provide some sort of direction and guidance.

This is a good move. I will never forget the problems when the IRS changed the tax code and no one, taxpayers, tax preparers and the agency, knew what to do.

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products

Sales, coupons & cash back on ebates.com

Whenever I am looking to purchase a product or service, I check ebates.com for coupons and sales. I have to put my car in the shop and hate being without a car. The only rental car agency in my town is Enterprise Rent-A-Car. So, I find and click the enterprise coupon link and browse the deals, which may include sales, coupons and opportunities for cash back!

In this economy, I will take money anyway I may earn it. LOL