Evelien Lohbeck’s "Notebook"

Evelien Lohbeck’s" Notebook" is an extremely creative blend of geek and artist.



[h/t: Neatorama]

Things I worried about

For those who are keeping track, this is post 500!

Based on Craig's post 'Worries' which was based on Dale Carnegie and the I'm Learning to Share post about 'How To Stop Worrying and Start Living' (1949).

"Ninety-nine per cent of the things I worried about never happened."

(Though I'm worried I don't have that quite right.)

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean that everyone isn't out to get you

Shout out to Seth Godin for posting about "How to opt out of cookie sniffing and trading." From his post:

As discussed before, there are networks of companies planting cookies on your machine and tracking behavior across websites. That means you'll see an ad on one site based on what you did on another.

You can opt out for free. Here's the not very well promoted link.

I was surprised to discover that over 2 dozen companies had behaviour tracking cookies on my system.

Missing child: Tori Stafford

From Sandra Bell-Lundy's blog:

This little grade three girl left her school in Woodstock, Ontario with an unidentified woman. They have a video of her leaving with the woman, apparently willingly. Tori has been missing since Wednesday, April 8.

Here is a link to the latest update in the Toronto Star.

The last things that she was seen wearing:
A black Hannah Montana jacket with a white fur-lined hood, a green sweater, with pink writing on it, a denim or black skirt, black leotards/pantyhose, and black shoes.

If you have any information about Tori, call the Woodstock Police @ 519-537-2323.

Exfoliating beads -- lovely

From scrawlzine:

Okay. The big fish eat the little fish . But what do the little fish eat? Plastic. And where does the plastic come from? Chances are, you, if you used one of numerous body washes, face creams and anything else with exfoliating beads. While sewage treatment plants have filters that remove most large items such as soda bottles, it is unlikely to remove grain-of-sand-sized “microplastic” used in beauty products. Like sand in the hourglass those are the items that settle on the ocean floor where fish and crustaceans cannot differentiate them from food.

From the Manitoban:

King and Thompson are both quick to explain that the interference of digestion and potential blockages causing malnutrition and death of marine life are only one aspect of the issues associated with marine life ingesting plastic. The other, perhaps even more significant, problem is related to polymer’s ability to absorb and retain chemicals. This is where small particles are especially troublesome. Thompson explains the unique ability of small plastic particles to soak up and absorb harmful chemicals, “When you are dealing with very small particles of this size, the potential for chemicals to be transferred and taken up by organisms is much greater than if you’re dealing with larger items because the smaller an item is the larger the surface area to volume ratio it has and the greater potential for any chemicals that were incorporated during manufacture. All of those have accumulated on the surface of the plastic while it has been in the environment. There’s much more potential for those [chemicals] to be released from small pieces than there is for big pieces.”

So, the smaller the particle, the more ability it has to absorb and release chemicals. This is where the exfoliating beads become even more troublesome. King explained what this means for marine life who ingest these small particles, “The small exfoliant beads are a major problem [ . . . ] Due to the nature of plastics, they absorb any toxins in the environment. When a seabird, or fish, or other species ingests the piece of plastic, the amount of toxin is many times the amount that they would be exposed to otherwise, and can often be poisonous.”

For more about the impact of humans on the oceans, check out TVO's Agenda episode titled Big Ocean Blues.

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

But what about cell phones?

Earlier this week, I mentioned the website for Ontario Electronic Stewardship, a non-profit industry organization to manage a program that encourages reuse, recycling and, if needed, proper disposal of unwanted electronic equipment.

At this time, they don't take cell phones. (But plan to in the future.)

No problem.

According to SmartCanucks.ca, Pizza Pizza is taking in old cell phones for recycling.

"Throughout April, Pizza Pizza will be trading cheese or pepperoni slices in exchange for unused cell phones, with proceeds from the recycling process going to support local food banks across the country."

Read more details on this promo.

How full is your RSS feedreader?

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Do what you can

Don't know how to safely dispose of your end-of-life electronics? Check out DoWhatYouCan.ca
From their electronics section:

To decrease the amount of potentially hazardous material accumulating in our landfills, the Ontario Government has designated Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES), a non-profit industry organization to manage a program that encourages reuse, recycling and, if needed, proper disposal of unwanted electronic equipment.

(New locations are continuously added as they become approved.)

In some communities drop-off locations include Salvation Army Thift Stores and Best Buy. Check the site for details.

In addition, if you are in the Toronto area and have functional computer equipment to donate, have a look at reBOOT Canada where tax receipts are issued for the market value of computer systems and peripherals.

Mistakes vs tasks

The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

How do they do it?

Limited time only: Invisible Sticky Labels: Labels that you can’t read!!

Not interested in gimmicky labels? Click through to Mabel's website to look at their other fanatastic labels and find yourself a 15% off coupon code valid for today (April 1st) only.