Led Zeppelin has new herb habit
January 13, 2008
Party all night, work all day. Until you reach your 40s, this lifestyle can be pulled off with relative ease. Somewhere past 40, the recovery time from a night of drinking or drugging elevates the high to an activity not worth the cause and effect.
If you are past 40, I know I am preaching to the choir here, but I found it amusing when a reporter found it noteworthy in Whole lotta herb tea of Led Zeppelin’s stairlift to heaven that on the band’s reunion tour Led Zeppelin passed on the alcohol for herbal teas.
According to the article, Led Zeppelin has traded the coke lady for the cup of tea lady. Led Zeppelin requested the band’s backstage dressing room be stocked with caffeine-free herbal tea and sparkling water. Respectfully, Robert Plant is 59, John Paul Jones is 61, and Jimmy Page is 63. At some point, most of us grow up into sensible recreations. Living your life like its a mental train wreck or waking up in the morning feeling chewed up and thrown away has been replaced by healthy organic living habits. It’s the new buzz.
[Photo credit: Ella Mullins on Flickr]
Helen Mirren in Oxfam Unwrapped: Give a decent gift
December 16, 2007
Award-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham Carter, funny man Rob Brydon and musician Will Young appear in a comical tongue-in-cheek and yet serious OxFam Unwrapped PSA appealing to the sensibilities of Christmas shoppers to give a decent gift this holiday season.
Instead of, say, another talking fish or dancing pig.
Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 organizations with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries working to end global poverty and injustice.
Two of the most popular gift donations are sheep and life-sustaining crop trees. Green gifts include a can of worms, fair trade honey, bicycle, sponsorship of a farmer, and a quinoa crop. For the truly hard to buy for on your Christmas gift list is the exotic purchase of a crocodile life.
(video of ad follows after the jump …)
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Harry Potter: JK Rowling green publishing saves ancient forests
December 2, 2007
Creator of young waif wizard Harry Potter and the imaginary magical world of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry author JK Rowling accepted The Order of the Forest award from the Canadian environmental organization Markets Initiative in recognition of her influence in the book publishing industry shift to green printing practices.
When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was set to go to print, Rowling requested publishing houses use environmentally-friendly paper sources.
As a result, the pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows did not threaten the destruction of trees in ancient or endangered forests. In addition to the 197,685 trees still standing, the green publishing practices conserved 327,657,453 liters of water and eliminated 7,876,000 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions traditional printing would have spewed into the atmosphere.
Markets Initiative credits Rowling with launching a trend that has seen an additional 300 publishers, including HarperCollins UK, Random House US and Scholastic, adopt green printing policies.
Boomers: Is it too late to save for retirement?
November 18, 2007
The retirement nest egg. Do most of us have one in place that will provide for a secure and comfortable lifestyle once we retire? Looking ahead to the retirement years, the traditional advice on when to begin a long term investment portfolio is ideally when we are still in our 20s.
For a variety of reasons, the reality is some of us might not have followed that financial advice two or three decades ago. For those who have not set aside money for retirement, a nagging little panic is beginning to set in as the retirement years are gaining on those now in their 40s and 50s.
Although surveys indicate boomers do not plan to retire at the accepted age of 65, when we do start to retire not one of us is counting on Social Security benefits to meet our financial retirement needs.
Is it too late to create a retirement nest egg?
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Al Gore: Global warming Nobel Peace Prize concert
November 8, 2007
In honor of Nobel Peace Prize winners Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has announced this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Concert will feature musical artists Melissa Etheridge, Annie Lennox, Alicia Keys, KT Tunstall, Earth Wind & Fire, Nick Davies, Juanes and Junoon.
Presented by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the Peace Prize Concert will be held on December 11 at the Spektrum Arena in Oslo, Norway. Tickets to the concert can be purchased through Oslo Spektrum and Billlettservice.
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George Osmond: Donny and Marie Osmond father dies
November 6, 2007
Dancing with the Stars competitors and fans have experienced both shocking and sad news this season with the death of Jane Seymour’s mother, Marie Osmond’s fainting spell, Jane Seymour’s food poisoning and now the death of Donny and Marie Osmond’s father George Osmond.
George Osmond passed away at home in Utah from natural causes. He was reported to be in good health and in good spirits just days before his death.
Entertainment Tonight reported the loss of the Osmond family patriarch as Donny happened to be in the studio taping a segment to be aired later that evening on ET when he received the news. The day before the death of his father, Donny had been visiting the ET set and spoke with Mary Hart about his father’s health.
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Drew Carey: Medical marijuana freedom video
November 3, 2007
Drew Carey has gained an impressive entertainment resume with such hits as The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line is it Anyway? In addition to currently hosting The Price Is Right and Power of 10, comedian Drew Carey has taken on a more serious role as host of The Drew Carey Project, a series of videos for the nonprofit educational group Reason Foundation that examines freedom in the lives of every day people.
Premiering in mid-October, the second episode features medical marijuana use and the conflict between states that have legalized medical marijuana use and the continued federal war on drugs.
Here is the ten minute video documentary from The Drew Carey Project:
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Al Gore Nobel Peace Prize blog speech video
October 13, 2007
Former US Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to raise awareness and educate the global community on the threat of global warming.
Al Gore posted this on his blog:
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Happiness: Older we get happier we become
October 10, 2007
Contrary to popular opinion, people do not get crankier the older they get. People who grow more unhappy as they age were likely unhappy when they were young.
Peter A. Ubel, author of You’re Stronger Than You Think: Tapping the Secrets of Emotionally Resilient People, has spent years researching coping skills and how different people deal with the inevitable adversities they will face as they live life.
According to Ubel, once we reach the other side of adversity, we tend to bounce back into the degree of happiness we felt before the challenging event.
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Who are Boomers?
October 9, 2007
Who are the Baby Boomers? If you were born between 1946 and 1964, it’s you and me. During those 18 years, 76 million children were born. Today, approximately 30 percent of the US population are Boomers.
The first Boomers have now arrived at the beginning of the sixth decade of life, and the last of the boomers are in their early 40s. According to statistics, a good number of Boomers will go on to live well into their 80s and beyond.
With the realization that the 40s and 50s may only be the half way mark in longevity, Boomers are examining what expectations to place on the second half of life and how they want to define, and redefine, what it means to grow older.
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