Something Good: Rescue Doggies

Someone shared this gorgeous and well produced 2-minute video on Twitter, which made me feel great, so besides RTing it I'm sharing it with you. *smiles*

Now, have you noticed the message at the very end?


If not all, most of you know that I'm a dog person. In fact, I have not one but two rescue dogs (that are my inspiration for the #FridayFlash Writer's Pets Contest).


My dogs are lovely. They got even lovelier (if that's possible :P) after I came in contact with Cesar Milan's teachings. Have you ever heard about the show The Dog Whisperer?


If you haven't and you have a dog, you're considering getting one, you simply like dogs, of even if you're afraid of them, I suggest you take a peek. The man is amazing! What he did for me and my lovelies just through his show is incredible, and what he does for the most troublesome dogs I've ever seen... Ohhhh! 


"What does he have to do with the video, besides the obvious fact that there's a dog featuring in it?" you ask.


Well, Cesar has many campaigns to promote rescue dogs adoption, but this one called my attention the most: To Hell and Back - The Story of Micheal Vick's Pitbulls


Let me ask you something: when you think of pitbulls, is aggressiveness the first image that comes to mind? If your answer is "yes", you're not alone. But you know, this is not necessarily true. When people say that dogs are just like their owners, they're more right than you imagine. But not because their natures are the same, but because it's in dogs nature to make themselves what their masters want in order to please them.  


So, if you care to see things under different perspectives, check out that article about pitbulls. 


And to add to my opinion about human-dog relationship, check out this other article about non-verbal communication between humans and dogs: Beyond Words: Human-Animal Interaction. It's mind-boggling!


Now, after seeing the movie and reading the articles, tell me you don't want to adopt a rescue. Impossible! You might even consider getting a lovable and submissive pitbull like Cesar's rehabilitated ones, eh? ;P (Well, not unless you're a cat person, in which case you're forgiven, heh.)


Oh, if you ever decide to adopt a rescue dog (or any dog for that matter), will you let me know? :)


Psst, check out Cesar's tips for getting a new dog. ;)

Spotlight Time! Kristin Neff

The Spotlight Time series was created to showcase people's work I feel deserve a special attention. The book  Self-compassion - Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind, by Kristin Neff, certainly falls into that category. See why.

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I've come across this book through a newspaper article named Down With Self-Esteem? At first, I was intrigued but suspicious, but as I read, all suspicion vanished. In her book, the article explains, Kristin Neff, PhD makes a good point of differencing self-esteem from self-compassion. 


The former is based on narcissism and excessive competitiveness, which lead people to feel constantly unsatisfied with themselves, their egos frequently hurt. Their behavior and life stile consequently reflect these feelings, as well as their interaction with others. The latter means accepting that we are all human thus fallible, not only in theory but in practice. 


My reaction to this general idea was the same you're probably having: "Okay, that's a nice thought, but how the heck do I do that?" 


First of all it's important to mention that Kristin doesn't say that we shouldn't have any self-esteem, but that there shouldn't be a reason for us to like ourselves. The moment we question that, we start comparing ourselves to others and things go downhill. We should care for ourselves no matter how many mistakes we make, how fat we are, how better we'd like to be. This is where self-compassion comes in. 


Self-compassion doesn't mean to settle with less than we'd like. Of course we should strive to be better people, to have good things and to feel good about our bodies, but we shouldn't compare ourselves and "our things" to others('s). Self compassion means not judging ourselves when we make mistakes, means being gentle with ourselves when we're in pain, caring for ourselves instead of punishing ourselves for not being (or looking) as successful as our neighbor. 


So how do we do all that? We start by paying attention to how critic we are about ourselves. If you're scratching your head now, you can test your self-compassion level on Kristin's website. Look how coherent are the criteria:

• Self-Kindness
• Self-Judgement
• Common Humanity
• Isolation
• Mindfulness
• Over-Identification
• Overall Score

After having a first "self-criticism x-ray" I suggest you take a look at her website, where you'll find lots of information on how to start treating yourself better (and others by consequence). Then we can all read her book and put this beautiful thinking in practice.


Don't you think we could make good use of this self-compassion thing in our writing as well?

Spotlight Time!

This is something I've always wanted to do here at Randomities. It's spotlight time! 


One of the most important things in a writer's career is to have people talking about their books and stories. (and buying them, of course :P) So I'm dedicating a "spotlight series" to the projects of my writing pals. 


Today, Randomities will be featuring Jodi Cleghorn, who organized not one but two anthologies in the past few months. (wow) 


Both books are being released in paperback through Amazon Chart Rush tomorrow (May 17th), and revenues from both books go to charities to help with the Queensland community in Australia, which suffered greatly with the Yasi Cyclone last February. 


These are beautiful projects that gather a great many writers in them. Check them out and help them climb Amazon's ratings!

Click here to buy

Inspired by the Talking Heads’ song of the same name, Nothing but Flowers explores the complexities and challenges of love in a post-apocalyptic landscape; from a take-away coffee mug to a gun to the head, a fortune cookie to a guitar, the open road and beyond.

Poignant, funny, horrifying and sensual, this collection of short fiction leaves an indelible mark on ideas of what it means to love and be loved.

All profits from the sale of this anthology go to The Grantham Flood Support Fund.

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Click here to buy

“One hundred beautiful stories. Our stories. 
When so much was lost or destroyed, this was created. 
That’s something that can never recede or wash away.” 
~ Kate Eltham – CEO of The Queensland Writers Centre 

100 STORIES FOR QUEENSLAND has something for everyone, from slice of life to science fiction, fantasy to romance, paranormal to literary fiction. Heart-warming, quirky, inspiring and funny, the stories between these covers will lift readers to higher ground. 

Proceeds from the sale of the anthology go to the Queensland Premier’s Flood Appeal.

Earth Day -- #FridayFlash

This is a very short flash in honor to Earth Day. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Picture credit

It tickles. What is it? 


I shrug and tiny things fall apart. The itching stops in some parts, but it continues and increases in others. I wish I had fingers like some of my diminutive companions. 


Ow, that hurts! Wait just there, you're going too deep. I can't breathe with all that smoke, and I feel queasy with what you gave me to drink. 


My oceans react, parts of me clean out as new things crumble down. I still don't feel too good though. 


I take a closer look at what is causing all that disturbance and I'm surprised to see how much of my surface they have covered with their new, strange looking, smelly homes. I'm concerned at how unaware of me they are. I checked them out just over a minute ago and  they not only knew about me but also they seemed to like me. What's happened?


Hmm, good. Some of them are waking up to my presence. I hope these are the ones who will survive my next change. 

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Earth B-Day

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This Friday, April 22, is going to be Earth Day. Earth is around 4 billion 600 million years old. We know it's not going to be actually Earth's birthday, but let's pretend it is? Let's also pretend Earth is a bit younger, say, 46 years old. 


'Til she was a 7-year-old kid, she was a mystery. We know almost nothing about her at that tim. They say these first years are the most important to the formation of the personality, so it's a bit scary knowing nothing about such a close friend, eh?


Earth grew into an adolescent and a young gorgeous woman without we knowing much about her either. Our knowledge about her starts when she was already a delicate and mature 42-years-old. 


Dinosaurs came over when she was already 45, and mammals arrived only eight months ago. Half a week ago some monkeys that looked more or less like a man evolved into men that looked like monkeys. 


Three days ago, she had her last glacial era (that encompassed the whole planet), and the modern man as we know came over in the last four hours. Just an hour ago man discovered agriculture and established himself in fixed locations.


Industrial Revolution happened a minute ago, and in the last sixty seconds man managed to transform the paradise that Earth is in a dumpster. Man has multiplied and spread out like a plague, causing the extinction of more than 500 species, and has devastated our kind lady in search for fossil fuel and minerals. 


Like a child that sees only himself and is unable of measuring the consequences of his actions, man has made inviable many other life forms and is now affecting the whole environment, causing problems to his own survival. 


Only a few seconds ago, part of mankind has become aware that the most serious problem man has to solve is to reestablish harmony with nature.(*)

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Whew, thank god we're not too late! 


So, what do we do? 


Nah, I'm not lecturing about all the green actions you can take to move towards that goal. It would be nice, though, if you gave it a thought.


In the mean time, check out a few websites that talk about the issue:

•  Earth Day Network, where you'll find what you can do, and the events in the US.

• Green News.info, where you'll find all kinds of news in Italian, and Earth Days events in Italy.

• Cesar's Way, where you'll find what you can do with your dog for Earth Day. Being a huge dog lover, I should tell you that you'll find loads of useful information on this website. It's definitely worth a closer look. 

Happy Earth Day!


(*) This analogy is not mine. I took it and free-translated from an official paper on safe driving and citizen awareness raising. 

HEEELP!

 

Picture Credits

It happened. My worst nightmare came true, and I bet it's your worst nightmare too. My computer died.

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It's the doomsday of any writer! Yeah, yeah, I can write with ink and paper as well as anyone, but how can I visit my writer friends' blogs? How can I connect with people on Twitter, Facebook and other social network sites? Don't we read daily about the importance of social networking, not only to build up the famous platform, but also to avoid the isolation that threatened to kill so many creative minds back in the days? And finally, but not less importantly, how the heck am I going to connnect with my readers? O.O

After I stopped sobbing, whimpering and blowing my nose (yuk) -- besides whining to the very patient and helpful Monica Marier --I decided to do something about it.



Click to go to cause

I can't afford buying a new computer, and I can't afford being without one, so I started a cause on Facebook, and I've added a Donate Button to the sidebar.

Now, here's the deal. I don't think a thank you note is enough to show my appreciation to all the wonderful people that will donate (I hope) and spread the word. So I'll try to give something in return to these generous, warm-hearted, loving people: *wink, wink*

•  Everyone who tweets, shares on facebook and other social networking sites, and/or links the cause on their blogs will be listed on a thank you blog post as soon as the goal is achieved.

• To a blog post dedicated exclusively about the cause I'll offer a guest post at Randomities, or a book review, or an interview, or whatever else you come up with to showcase your work. ;)

• To a donation of $10 or more, I'll offer all the above, plus I'll write a story with the super generous person as main chararcter in any chosen genre, or with a character of hers (if she's a writer), or any other crazy idea you come up with. :P

"Why the rewards?," you ask.

Because I want to show my appreciation for those who are willing to help someone in need. I like to help people when I can, and I've learned to ask for help in the hardest way. I know sometimes it's not easy neither helping nor being help, so I want to thank properly.

Please don't let my muse die with my crappy computer. Donate! Spread the word! And please come back to collect your reward. You'll make me as happy with your collecting as with your donation. :)

Update: With the help of no less than 46(!) wonderful people I've reached my goal and I've bought a shiny new computer! *grins manically*

Neil Gaiman Needs Help with "The Price"

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I'm sure you know who Neil Gaiman is. You don't? Sinner! Just kidding, heh. He's the award winning author who wrote one of the best comic books ever made, Sandman, and several fantastic(al) books, which latest are Coraline -- that was made into a spooky animation -- and The Graveyard Book, which won the Newberry Medal. He's also my favorite writer. (As if you hadn't guessed it by now, heh.)


You see, Gaiman also wrote a short story called The Price that you can hear here, narrated by him, for free. The story is so good that Christopher Salmon wants to make it into a 3D animation. 


If you care about my opinion, I love Gaiman's comics and novels, but I'm not as affectioned to his short stories. Every author has a weak point, right? However, The Price is fantastic! It's gripping, chilling and surprising. Curiously enough, I though it'd make a great animation when I read it. 

Check out this video, which I hope will tick your curiosity, if I haven't yet. ;)

"So why all this?" you ask. 

Well, if you saw the video you know what we need to do. If not, I'll summarize it for you. ;) 

To make the project into the real thing, they need to raise $ 150,000. 3D animation are expensive, eh? They're almost half under way, but there are only ten days to go, so your help is most needed! 

Check out the widget on the sidebar to see the progress. So far, more than a thousand people are backing the initiative! Now go and do some good. :) 

p.s.: Here's the movie's website. Pretty! 

Breathe

I had promised another installment of the zombie dragon story for this week, but, but... It doesn't matter does it? heh ;P

So, I wrote this a few days ago, which I thought I'd share with you although it doesn't really qualify as #FridayFlash. But there you go; I hope you'll like it. :)

Breathe

I'm walking on a large road with no room for pedestrians. I'm going from one appointment to another and I have plenty of time. I'm hungry. I'm eager to sink my teeth into the half-eaten sandwich I'm carrying in my purse.

My strides are calm yet determined. I spot this:

I had seen this small path before, walking on the same road. I've wanted to explore it although it looked too much like the entry to a private property. Today I dare going in. It might have been the pending flowers that made it look like the door to another world, or it was the sun inviting me to rest under the trees tops. It doesn't matter.

I look back to see if someone sees me and I stroll in. I'm welcomed by chipping birds, a kind breeze and white butterflies.

As I advance I'm more and more certain that I'm trespassing. I ignore the knot on my stomach and look at the shades of green of the tree leaves above my head; I smell the humidity of the earth below my feet; I hear the cracking sound of the fallen branches at my every step.

I hear a rumbling sound that does not come from my belly. Shortly after I see a construction between the tree trunks; there's no doubt anymore.

I turn to go away. Nature invites me to stay for a while longer, so I leave the rough road embracing the woods, feeling that the birds will hide and protect me from the owner's wrath. I'm wearing red under a black coat.

I give my back to the house and the noise and sit on a tree stump. I eat my sandwich, leaving the crumbs in appreciation of the bird's greeting. The sun thanks me with a warm beam, illuminating every one of us.

I breathe in the moment and go. The butterflies salute me in my way back.

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I'm writing this in a charming town, drinking a good caffè macchiato. I pause every once in a while to gaze at the passing people, the buildings and into nothing.

The sun has hidden behind the clouds, providing a cool afternoon. My red scarf protects me from the mountain air and the coffee heats me from the inside. Life is good right now.

Note: These pics were taken by yours truly with her crappy cell phone camera. Please forgive their bad quality, although I've tagged this post as "pretty things". It's the essence that is pretty, not the form. ;)

Oil Spill - Take Action

You have heard about the accident that leaded to the largest oil spill in American history, right?

You have heard about the horrific consequences for the environment, right?

You can track its growth here. I'm in awe of the extent of its taint.

Here you can read about National Geographic photographer Joe Sartore's experience when visiting the site. (Thank you Debra, for the thought provoking link!)

These are the US government initiatives to contain the disaster.

What can we do to help?

Phyl Good wrote a post in her bookish blog that pushed the start button of an engine in my head. There are people, good people, taking action to contain or remedy its impact.

All illustrations you see in this post were taken from the Ripple Project blog. This is an incredible initiative by illustrator Kelly Light to raise funds to help animal victims of the oil spill. Each drawing is a card that can be purchased by only $10; all income goes straight to two non-profits: The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and The International Bird Rescue Research Center.

You can take action by purchasing something beautiful.

"I can't draw", you say, "and I'm short on cash." Well, I'm on the same page, but you can help in other ways.

For instance, Jim Bronyaur has an awesome project that demands no disbursement from you. All you have to do is read and comment on a given list of blogs and websites. He will donate $10 to each 50 comments in the sites of the list.

One of the included links is a fantastical story (literally) that takes place in the post-Katrina New Orleans: Devil's Blood.

He is also recording an album which income will go to the same goal. You'll be able to download it from his website. Watch his blog for further news!

You can take action by supporting other actions.

You can spread the word, like I'm doing. You can be inventive.

We live in a oil-based society, so, even if only indirectly, we're all responsible for the problems risen from the extraction, processing and usage of its by-products.

Be responsible. Take action.

Note: Here are the links for the illustrations featured in this post, by order of appearance. The name of the illustration leads to its post on the Ripple Project Blog, and the illustrator names lead to their website (when available). Visit them, show your support. This is also a good and inexpensive way of taking action!

>> We Will Emerge, by Danielle Gaudet

>> Swiss Ripple, by Jart Studio Gallery

>> Etegami Set: Moon Jellies, by Deborah Davidson

>> Hope for New Life, by Karen Erasmus

>> Sea Life, by Amalia Hillmann

>> All the Seas Were Ink, by Kathleen Jennings

>> Save Them, by Ginger Nielson

Motto

This is a quick note to tell you that I've found a motto for myself.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ~ Plato

I don't know why I haven't chosen this phrase before, as it rings so true, but it doesn't matter.

What do you think of my choice? :)

Note to add: I'm a sucker for images. I couldn't just leave this post image-less, so I've put this beautiful mosaic of Plato in Athens to illustrate it, which I found here. *snort* heh

Randomities Is Carbon Neutral

If a website has around 15K visits a month, the energy consumed by the visitor's computers is equivalent to 3,6Kg (or 8lb) of carbon dioxide emission a year.

One tree absorbs 11lb per year.

Easy math, eh? ;)

Randomities hasn't reached yet this kind of traffic, but no matter. I'd rather make up for at least one website that hasn't joined this movement. ;)

"What the heck are you talking about?" you ask.

It's simple: these guys are willing to plant a tree for each website or blog that joins in, for free, in order to restore Plumas National Forest in North California, which was almost destroyed by a great fire caused by lightning back in 2007.

I'm sure you've heard or read about it?

So, I'm extremely proud to announce that Randomities is Carbon Neutral. *hurra!* ;D

If you got interested in participating -- I hope you did! -- go to this page, where you'll find the simple and easy instructions.

And please don't forget to stop by Jemi Fraser's blog: Just Jemi. She's the awesome blogger who pointed me to this fundamental initiative.

Let's do some good people! :)

Note: The hand holding a tree is from the Carbon Neutral Project's website, and the satellite image is from Nasa's Earth Observatory. All technical information on CO2 absorption by trees also come from the project's website.

Merry Christmas!

It's Xmas time!

I love this season and the Christmas spirit that instigate so many people to donate to charity, to help one another, or to hug a loved one.

And there's the decoration. So many wonderful things are made! I particularly like garlands (won't say "wreaths"; too harsh sounding, blah, heh), and for the first time I got to make one. Yup, me, I'm the one who made that thing up there, believe it?

Guess what? That's my Xmas gift for you! And please do feel hugged. :-)

Merry Christmas!

First Snow, Happy Doggie!

Edited to add: Hi! If you don't care to know about this cute dog's story, scroll down a bit and you'll find some information on how to attend to your dog's paws on winter time, and other related stuff. Hope you find the info useful. :)

Moira loves snow. When we first arrived in Italy, last year, I thought that it was just the novelty of scents, sensations, and so on; but yesterday it was all white when we went for our daily walk, and she was so excited!

To which you respond: "But she doesn't look too happy in the picture."

That's true; she's not smiling like in here and here. But you see, usually she's not very helpful when I have a camera in hand. She shifts position, looks somewhere else, or scratches herself right when I'm clicking. By these signs I knew she didn't like much to be photographed, and I commented this with my mother on our walk. So, what did Moira do a few seconds later? She posed to this picture.

"You're exaggerating," you say.

Actually I'm not. My mother had some difficulty to take this picture because of her gloves, and every time she was ready Moira raised her ears the same way we had encouraged her to do many times when taking pictures of her. Besides, when we made those noises that showed our contentment with the picture, the darned thing walked away wagging her tale merrily, as if her mission was accomplished. Can you imagine our reaction? (Hey, don't you snort on me. Do you have a dog anyway?)

In our way back home Moira didn't look so happy anymore. She'd stop frequently to lick her paws, giving me that "help me" look I know so well. When I checked it, there were lumps of ice below her nails and between her foot pads.

This reminded me (look what a random mind I have, heh) of one of the Wheel of Time books, in which Perrin is in the wolf world and running in the snow. I remember the vivid description of how his paws hurt from the clutched ice and the resistance of the snow to his running efforts.

So, when we got home, instead of cleaning the dogs up the usual way, we used warm water to melt the ice stuck in their leg's fur and between their toes; and after giving them water and food I trimmed their nails, the fur in the back of their legs and below the paws.

Afterwards, when the dogs were sound asleep, something else came to mind. Is there some other special care with dog's paws in winter time that I'm not aware of?

With a quick internet research I found this excellent article that I'm summarizing below:

1. What problems to look for:

• Cracked or sore foot pads, blisters, and infections;

• Snow (especially wet) clung to long haired dogs, creating slumps of ice, often mixed with rock, salt and gravel, making the walking hurt (when under the paws) or uncomfortable (when on the leg's fur);

• Intoxication due to de-icing chemicals, rocks and other minerals.

2. How to solve them:

• Sore foot pads and other related problems are usually caused by sensitivity to cold. Two viable solutions are applying Vaseline or Bag Palm on pads, and considering buying doggy boots for your friend.

• To the snow clung, do as I did intuitively: a) always wash your friend's paws after outdoor plays, taking care of leaving no traces of salt and other residues, even if there's no apparent crack or other problem; b) trim their nails (long nails make toes spread apart when walking, leaving more room for ice to build up); c) cut the long fur between the toes so that it's even with the pads; and d) trim the fur in the back of their legs;

• To prevent intoxication, do not let your friend crew away lumps of ice and snow sticking to the paws or hanging from the fur, and don't let it lick the paws before you wash them up, as the rock, salt and chemical products can have toxic effect. If your dog shows any sign of problem, take it to the veterinary right away.

Food poisoning symptoms can be a helpful analogy to identify other types of intoxication: dullness, vomiting, inability to eat and general weakness.

Now, can you fill in the gaps? These seem to be enough information for me here, but I'm all but snow savvy, so you your help is more than welcome. :-)

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In my research I came across this wonderful non-profit: Dogs Deserve Better. Will you click on the link and donate? That would be nice. :-D

Their cold weather tips are excellent, but they're not easy to locate among the many information on their main page, so I reproduced them below highlighting the key words to help the reading. Also their frozen to death dog pics are, are... I'm speechless.

1. Keep your dog inside. Outdoors, dogs can freeze, become lost or be stolen, injured or killed. Dogs who are allowed to stray are exposed to infectious diseases, including rabies, from other dogs and wildlife.

2. Never let your dog off the leash on snow or ice, especially during a snowstorm, dogs can lose their scent and easily become lost. More dogs are lost during the winter than during any other season, so make sure yours always wears ID tags.

3. Thoroughly wipe off your dog's legs and stomach when he comes in out of the sleet, snow or ice. He can ingest salt, antifreeze or other potentially dangerous chemicals while licking his paws, and his paw pads may also bleed from snow or encrusted ice.

4. Never shave your dog down to the skin in winter, as a longer coat will provide more warmth. When you bathe your dog in the colder months, be sure to completely dry him before taking him out for a walk. Own a short-haired breed? Consider getting him a coat or sweater with a high collar or turtleneck with coverage from the base of the tail to the belly. For many dogs, this is regulation winter wear.

5. Never leave your dog alone in a car during cold weather. A car can act as a refrigerator in the winter, holding in the cold and causing the animal to freeze to death.

6. Puppies do not tolerate the cold as well as adult dogs, and may be difficult to housebreak during the winter. If your puppy appears to be sensitive to the weather, you may opt to paper-train him inside. If your dog is sensitive to the cold due to age, illness or breed type, take him outdoors only to relieve himself.

7. Does your dog spend a lot of time engaged in outdoor activities? Increase his supply of food, particularly protein, to keep him and his fur in tip-top shape.

8. Like coolant, antifreeze is a lethal poison for dogs. Be sure to thoroughly clean up any spills from your vehicle, and consider using products that contain propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol.

9. Make sure your companion animal has a warm place to sleep, off the floor and away from all drafts. A cozy dog or cat bed with a warm blanket or pillow is perfect.

For you that have read so far, here's a curiosity bonus, a picture of my mother's adorable dog, Iris, the (in)famous intruder: