PRN Admin's blog

With the economy being what it is, perhaps a strong push for clean energy alternatives will help rebuild our nation on a greener, more earth-friendly foundation. Obama got elected because people spread the word and acted in masses. If we spread the word that America is ready to participate actively in transitioning our dependency on oil to cleaner, renewable resources, we can be a part of that change too!

From an email I received from MoveOn.org:

MoveOn's partnering with acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey — who designed the iconic Obama "Hope" poster — to offer a FREE "Clean Energy for America" sticker.

We need to show Congress that Americans are ready to make the switch to clean, renewable sources of energy.

It was really nice to see this story. It truly brought back good memories of college and the proud moment I had accepting my college diploma, the first in my family to finish a college education.

My parents, Polish immigrants, paid for my entire education; I never had a student loan to pay. Granted, I did receive my share of scholarships and grants for my hard work in high school. But my parents, a manufacturing company dock worker and a hospital maintenance worker, lived the American dream and put both of their daughters through college at expensive Midwest private colleges.

For a small business, reinventing yourself can be a difficult process. But in the grand scheme of things, it's very doable.

On the other hand, when you are a large corporation, reinventing yourself is not nearly as easy... or even plausible.

So, in reading the myriad of feeds that have accumulated in my Google Reader, I was immediately drawn to the headline, "Sears tries new take on online shopping". A new take on online shopping - and from Sears? This quickly turned into a must read.

This is truly a great site! I have been a member for well over 6 years and have had nothing but a great experiencing earning my children some extra college funds -- without doing any more than I usually do anyway! And they have a wonderful feature where family members (grandparents :) can help too!

from the special promotion on their website:

The secret's out about the easy way to save for college.
Upromise is now 10 Million Members strong!

I came across a great Forbes article. I think what drew me in was the title, The U.S. Economy Doesn't Need GM.

The U.S. Economy Doesn't Need GM

Wow. As Blythe comments in her article, GM tuly is associated as a pillar of our economy. It was an industry that saw great growth and advancement in our nation in the early part of the last century. However, as she details out the numbers, it makes good sense that a government-aided bailout of the big three truly may not be in our economic best interest.

Sitepoint is a fantastic resource for developers. And they have several helpful resources. One of teh many things they do is throw out some freebies.

from an email I received from Sitepoint:

You've downloaded samples of our books in the past, so I thought you'd be interested to hear that for 14 days you can download The Art & Science Of CSS (worth $29.95) absolutely FREE.

The answer to this question surprised me, at first. And then I thought about it some, and somehow I was not as surprised as I was originally.

So which is it?

As a small business owner, the last couple years have been difficult, yet fruitful. Many small companies are making significant cut backs in production because of low demand. People are cutting back on services they do not need to stay afloat. Sadly, many small businesses are also cutting staff to lower their companies healthcare and salary expenditures. This is where, though it's disheartening to hear, my company has been able to flourish.

Well, according to an article I came across today, small businesses are not so optimistic these days. In fact, the article states that optimism has sank to 28-year low!

Wow! The lowest optimism in almost 30 years--- not to date myself, but that is my lifetime. So, this is the worst the small business economy has been in almost 30 years.

The article, U.S. Small-Business Optimism Index Sank to 28-Year Low in March, can be viewed here.

from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/displayPR.cfm?prID=516

World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour Celebrations Spread to Six Continents in Largest Climate Change Event in History

Washington, D.C. – March 26, 2008 – With less than a week to go, participation in Earth Hour (www.earthhour.org) has grown dramatically as nearly 200 cities, including 35 in the U.S., join millions of individuals and businesses around the world in turning off their lights on Saturday, March 29th from 8 – 9 pm local time in a dramatic symbolic gesture in support for action on climate change.