Ed Parton Blog

I wanna surf your couch

ed — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:04:37 +0000

Couch Surfing—The internet has made it easy to find alternative housing arrangements. whether you are traveling as a tourist, are on a visa run or are a full-time nomad. There are scores of couch surfing matchmaker sites, with different business models. They can also be used as temporary housing while you look for a place to rent or buy. To discover such services, Google [couch surfing], [home stay], [alternative travel], etc. Here are three examples with which I have had personal experience:

by Sandy X

Airbed and Breakfast (http://www.airbnb.com/). This service matches up people with rooms for rent, with alternative travelers. It protects both the travelers and the hosts, by escrowing rental payment. They also have mutual ratings/comments.
Couch Surfing (http://www.couchsurfing.org/). This service lists free hosting. Hosts may ask for some contribution, but mostly they do it because the like meeting new folks. As with Airbed, travelers can rate hosts and vise-versa.
Craig’s List (http://craigslist.org/). Started in San Francisco, Craig’s List now circles the globe. Go to the main page, click on the country/city where you want to stay, then click on whatever you are looking for under the “Housing” section. You can also search for jobs, companionship and everything else in your target city.

My experience with all three services has been extraordinary. I have met the most interesting people. Alternative travel appeals to the adventurous. It’s also way less expensive, and much more “homey,” than sterile hotels.

Semi-Nomadic—If you have a motor home, sailboat or just frequent flyer miles, you can rotate among two, three or more countries you like. Follow the sun or follow the calendar. A few months in Rio for Carnival, winter in Costa del Sol, spring in Buenos Aires, and so on.

DEFINITION: Couch-Surfing:
1. A cheap form of lodging used mainly by college-students or recent college-grads, where one stays on acquaintance’s couches rather than a hotel.

2. What someone who can’t afford rent on their own and/or can’t find roommates quick enough does when they are “between” places

1. dude 1: I’m hittin’ up NYC this weekend.
dude 2: WOW, thats gonna be expensive.
dude 1: Not really, my boy from college just got a job and a place in Manhattan, and I’m couch surfin’.

2. person 1: Whats up with Joe, he’s been here like all the time.
person 2: he just broke up with his girl, and doesn’t have a place yet, so he’s couch surfin’ here ’til then.

more…

Hospitality Club
Hostelworld.com
WWOOF
Lonely Planet
Couch-surfing.org

plep

ed — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:31:18 +0000

A riotous place with too much to see and too much to do. Cram-packed with the most interesting places on the internet… Not updated since 2007 or so. Still worth your while. Don’t forget to feed the goldfish…

Plep
Plep
Plep

Merry Dancers Old Book and Antique Emporium

ed — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:15:52 +0000

I love this photo. The Artwork of Charles Vess is positively among my favorite illustrations of all time.

This is an illustration from the 20th anniversary of “Moonheart” by Charles De Lint. I love the bookstore and the concept that Vess has impersonated with Merry Dancers Old Book and Antique Emporium. Lovely. Exceptional ambiance. Draws you in to a very special place indeed.

Ebook Reading

ed — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:17:46 +0000

Reading Habits In The Modern World

We love reading! Ebooks make it easy to catch up on all those old classics that you haven’t read yet. You can use your computer, a tablet, your cell phone, or your local library. Definitely fun. No time to waste.

30 Benefits of Ebooks

1. Ebooks promote reading. People are spending more time in front of screens and less time in front of printed books.

2. Ebooks are good for the environment. Ebooks save trees. Ebooks eliminate the need for filling up landfills with old books. Ebooks save transportation costs and the pollution associated with shipping books across the country and the world.

3. Ebooks preserve books. (The library of Alexandria was burned and the collection ruined. Richard Burton’s wife, after his death and against his wishes, destroyed a book he had been working on for ten years. The original manuscript of Carlyle’s The French Revolution was lost when a friend’s servant tossed it into the fire.) Ebooks are ageless: they do not burn, mildew, crumble, rot, or fall apart. Ebooks ensure that literature will endure.

4. Ebooks, faster to produce than paper books, allow readers to read books about current issues and events.

5. Ebooks are easily updateable, for correcting errors and adding information.

6. Ebooks are searchable. Quickly you can find anything inside the book. Ebooks are globally searchable: you can find information in many ebooks.

7. Ebooks are portable. You can carry an entire library on one DVD.

8. Ebooks (in the form of digital audio books) free you to do other activities while you are listening.

9. Ebooks can be printable: and thereby give a reader most or all of the advantages of a paper-based book.

10. Ebooks defy time: they can be delivered almost instantly. Ebooks are transported to you faster than overnight shipping: in minutes or in seconds.

11. Ebooks defy space: ebooks online can be read simultaneously by thousands of people at once.

12. Ebooks are cheaper to produce. Thus, small presses can attempt to compete with media giants.

13. Ebooks are cheaper to buy.

14. Ebooks are free. The magnificent work of Project Gutenberg, and other online public libraries, allow readers to read the classics at no cost.

15. Ebooks can be annotated without harming the original work.

16. Ebooks make reading accessible to persons with disabilities. Text can be re-sized for the visually impaired. Screens can be lit for reading in the dark.

17. Ebooks can be hyper-linked, for easier access to additional information.

18. Ebooks — with additional software and hardware — can read aloud to you.

19. Ebooks let you tweak the style. Many ebooks allow readers to change the font style, font size, page size, margin size, colors, and more.

20. Ebooks may allow the option for the addition of multimedia: still images, moving images, and sound.

21. Ebooks, with their capacity for storage, encourage the publishing of books with many pages, books that might be too expensive to produce (and purchase) in paperback.

22. Ebooks — without outrageous DRM schemes — are made for sharing. Ebooks can be quickly duplicated, and then distributed to strangers or given to your friends. Worry no more about your loaned books that will never be returned.

23. Ebooks empower individuals to write and to publish, and in this way help to challenge “the crushing power of big publishing”, that excludes so many authors from the New York City publishing circus. Publishing can move from the impersonal and profitable, to the personal and pleasurable.

24. Ebooks — thanks to the simplicity and speed of publication and feedback — allow authors to experiment in many themes and styles.

25. Ebooks posted online encourage comments, corrections, and feedback — which eliminates mistakes and improves accuracy — especially important when dealing with scientific and technological issues.

26. Ebooks allow publishers to publish (and readers to read) works by a larger number of authors, and works on a wider variety of topics. Critics of traditional book publishing (such as Jason Epstein and Andre Schriffin) state that economic pressures have reduced and limited the number of authors and topics that traditional publishers will now produce.

27. Ebooks defeat attempts at censorship. All these works were banned: Analects by Confucius. Lysistrata by Aristophanes. Ars Amorata by Ovid. Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio by John Milton. The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne. Wonder Stories by H.C. Andersen. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Ulysses by James Joyce. … Many of these books were confiscated, burned, or denied availability in libraries, bookstores and schools. Ebooks guarantee that readers maintain their right to read.

28. Ebooks help paperbook publishers to sell paperbooks. Cory Doctorow has explained that the giving away of ebooks, for free, has helped to sell the paperback editions of his stories and novels.

29. Ebooks are evolving. As technology develops, ebooks may contain new features. For example, a book of recipes may contain a recipe calculator to figure how much maple syrup is needed to bake 200 cookies. An ebook that prepares you for the GRE could include an interactive test. An ebook about politics might allow you to click a link and register to vote, or send an email to a Congressman that tells him he is not a good environmental steward.

30. Ebooks are good for paperbook publishing. By setting an example for diversity and freedom of expression, ebooks may motivate the stagnant book publishing industry towards the renewal of small presses, the end of the blockbuster-bestseller publishing mentality, and a healthier balance between the needs of commerce and culture.

This will get you started

Ebook Directory You can’t possibly keep up…
SmashWords All independent.
e pub books Can you count to a thousand? times 10?
Free books Not ebooks, but free mp3′s of over 700 titles to listen to… audio books galore!
Book Rix
MobiPocket Ebooks
Digi Libraries – +30,000
DailyLit – Read books online by daily email and RSS feed.
Wikibooks – Wikibooks is a Wikimedia community for creating a free library of educational textbooks that anyone can edit.
Project Gutenberg – Free ebooks from producers.
Adobe Free eBooks – In Adobe’s Free eBooks area, you can download, unlock, and read electronic books on your personal computer or reading device.
Alive & Free – A page of links to some recent books from living authors available free online.
Read Easily – An ebook online library which has been designed to provide you an adaptive reading experience!
PDFbooks – This new site offers around 4,700 downloadable public domain e-books.
Diesel eBooks -Offer free ebooks formatted for both Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket.
Planet eBook –
Free classic literature to download and share.
e-Library – Plenty of free ebooks available for download.
BookBoon – Provides free ebooks for students and travelers in PDF format. No registration is required.

We’ve got Part II. See it here.

thanx

Faith without Fear

ed — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:25:17 +0000

“When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4

Fear is a formidable foe of faith. It lurks about, looking for ways to lead us into distrust of our Lord. Fear is subtle with its sneak attacks on our attitudes and bold in its frontal barrage on our beliefs. Fear always fights back, even when we extinguish it for a time with our total trust in God. And it doesn’t let up until we get to heaven. Fear is like fire ants. You can eliminate their unholy mound with a baby powder-like deterrent, but they regroup and rebuild nearby.

Trust in the Lord is the terminator of fear, but fear seems to recreate itself with whatever appendage of doubt is left. It grows within the next uncertain circumstance that comes our way. Fear thinks it has us in check on the chessboard of our life, but the truth is that Jesus checkmated fear on the cross. Now it is up to us to appropriate His triumph by trusting in God.

There are many times when we are in transition from fear to faith. It’s in the transition of trust in God that our cares co-mingle with Christ’s care. There is a holy tension that transpires in our transition into trust. It is in this dawn of trust that light gradually overcomes darkness. Faith dissolves doubts as the sun drives away the mist. Your mind may be a little murky, but you renew your thinking (Romans 12:2) with the truth that God is ever present.

Your confidence may be crumbling, but you keep your eyes on your Savior. Your prayers may be clumsy, but you still cling to Christ. Your relationships may be reluctant, but you rely on the Lord. Use this transition from fear to faith to grow your mercy and compassion. Indeed, doubting can drive us to God, and it grows us into more patient and humble human beings. It strengthens our trust and makes us hold fast to heaven. Hope trusts in this transition from fear to faith.

Moreover, mortal man has not made a permanent impression on the saints of God. Immortal and Almighty God is your new insignia. Embedded on the coins of your character is the faith-filled inscription, “In God I Trust.” Followers of Jesus have the eternal seal of their Savior as their newfound identity (Ephesians 4:30). Do not allow the patterns of your old life to feed any fading fears in your new one (Romans 6:6). The fears of your proud past have been replaced with faith, love, and hope in your humble here and now. Faith has banished fear.

Therefore, you can continually celebrate. Praise points you to Providence. After all, it’s all about Him. This is why faith brings forth praise. When you trust, you can’t help but sing from your soul. Indeed, faith in the Lord facilitates praise and is a product of praise. It is in our praise of God that our fears fade and our faith flourishes. So praise Him, trust Him, and fear no one. No one can take from you what you have already given to Him. Faith is a fear-killer; it overcomes.

Nourish my Soul

ed — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:21:01 +0000

Encourage Your Heart
And Nourish Your Soul
21 Ways To Build Yourself Up
And Brighten Your Day

Are you looking for simple ways to encourage your heart and nourish your soul? These 21 soul nourishing tips will give you plenty of inspiration. Read through them and and choose one to implement today.

Take time to stop and absorb the beauty of creation. Watch the sun rise, take a walk in the park, watch the sunset – enjoy the splendour of God’s creation.
Create a morning ritual. Get up a little earlier than usual, make yourself tea in your favourite mug, light a candle and sit looking onto the garden. Use your journal to speak with God. Write down questions and things that trouble you; listen for God’s answers and write those too.
Create a personal book of remembrance and record God’s blessings and the answers to your prayers.
Ask God to bless the people you don’t get on with and to help you to see them through His eyes. Make a point of being kind to people even when they aren’t kind to you.
Take a few minutes to relax and unwind at the end of a busy day. Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Close your eyes and picture God there with you.
Sit quietly and meditate. Think of all the things you are grateful for, of encouraging words that have been spoken to you, or simply enjoy the stillness.
Keep a gratitude journal. Write down all the things you are thankful for and things that bring you joy.
Slow down, focus on the moment and pay attention to what you are doing now and what is around you.
Memorise a poem or psalm or portion of Scripture that gladdens your heart.
Create your own prayer book. When you find a quotation or prayer that helps you, write it in you book and paste a scene from nature on the facing page. You could use this book to help you pray when prayer doesn’t come easily.
Take negative thoughts captive and replace them with positive uplifting thoughts full of truth, comfort and peace.
Surround yourself with beautiful things that gladden your heart.
Take care of yourself; treat yourself like you would your best friend.
Stop criticising yourself. Let yourself off the hook. Remember that God loves you and speak kindly to yourself.
Collect quotes and stories that inspire you. Put them where you will easily find them and take time to read through them when you need some encouragement.
Change what is within your power to change and stop fretting about what you can’t change. Let things go, turn them over to God and let Him deal with them.
Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while and ask them how they are.
Take time to encourage a colleague you wouldn’t normally associate with.
Take someone out for coffee. Focus on them. Ask then about their life and just listen.
Nourish your soul. Create a cd of feel good music and listen to it when you need a boost.
Develop a sense of humour. Do things that make you laugh. Laughter is the best medicine. The more you laugh, the happier and healthier you’ll be.

Christian Life Coaching

Laughing children

ed — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:36:44 +0000

“Watching a child’s laughter teaches a candle’s flame how to dance.”

~ Dr. SunWolf

“There is nothing better in the world, in the whole of life, than to hear children laugh.”

~ed parton

cherokee advice

ed — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:04:32 +0000

One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people.

He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.

“One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

“The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Nanyana on CNN

ed — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:42:24 +0000

What a nice touch! Jordan Bienstock of CNN used a picture of Nanyana’s Facebook page to highlight an article on Students, Teachers and Social Networks on her blog Schools Of Thought. This news item is blasted to tons of internet outlets and blogs worldwide!

Find the truth

ed — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:53:23 +0000

Seek the Truth in God…
follow Jesus…
ask all the right questions…
make good choices…
you only get one life…
everything you do and choose today…
is forever…

~ed parton