Jim Miller's List: EDUCATION

• If you're in grades K-8, Aspiring Authors will help you create your very own book. Have your teacher register your class on Lulu and start writing your original story. Each student that completes a book will receive their first printed copy for free.

   

  The story, for young authors.

   

  Once upon a time, Lulu developed a publishing program that gave kids a whole new way to let their imaginations run wild.

   

  And in no time at all, a group of elementary school students found themselves with a pretty amazing opportunity: the chance to become published authors.

   

  Given this chance, a little girl named Sydney just started writing and writing and writing, and ended up creating a book called “Be Mine.” And the next thing she knew, she had her very own printed copy of her very own story delivered right to her – free of charge. Just like all the other kids in her class.

   

  That’s how Aspiring Authors – a youth publishing program designed to encourage creativity and literacy in kids – was born.

   

  And everyone is living (and publishing) happily ever after.

   

  Download and print a cool flyer  (PDF, 214 KB)  and teach your teacher a thing or two about the Aspiring Authors program.

   

  A quick education for parents, teachers and schools

   

  By partnering with Aspiring Authors, your school can take your reading and writing lessons to a new level, by providing students with an opportunity to experience the process that real authors go through once a story is written. And here’s the best part: your school can set the amount of revenue that’s collected from each sale of a student’s book – making this a perfect fundraiser for all kinds of worthwhile programs.

   

     

   

  Want to find out more? Teachers, complete this form:

     <form action="kids_form.php" name="aaContact" method="get" id="aaContact">   

    Teacher's name *
   
     Email *
   
     Grade
   
     Number of students
     

     

    School
   
     City
   
     State:
   
     Zip:
     

      Comments/Questions</form>

• In order to offer your book on sites other than Lulu you will need an ISBN. Lulu offers ISBNs in the Publish by Lulu and Publish by You Distribution Services. These packages offer different ways to get your book out to the public. Lulu cannot sell you a distribution package until your book is published on Lulu, but you need to prepare your book for Distribution Services before you publish. This tutorial will help you get your book ready for publishing and take you through the process of publishing on Lulu. When publishing your book, click the blue Help button or the 'View instructions and info about this step' link at the top of each step for more information.

• community and economic development in rural areas
• solar energy
• Transition Initiative is a positive response to climate change and peak oil. It provides a model for communities to gather together, to re-envision, and to transform ourselves in ways that political leaders cannot do, to anticipate the results in our communities of dwindling oil resources (and higher fuel prices) and climate change, and to create our own visions of the future we want. Based on those visions, we can connect with existing environmental groups, organize our own responses to the physical limits we and our children may encounter, and teach ourselves how to prosper with less. Learning to live with less could mean expanding the joy in life, living richer lives, and enjoying deeper friendships as we work together. The Transition Initiative begins in any community with education and a small organized group, and it builds up to a full community meeting at which we create our own pathways to the future and then working groups, which look into food, transportation, housing, caring for the elderly and children, learning from the elders who once lived with less, and reskilling – and giving attention to matters of heart and soul as well. 
• projects to reduce and capture greenhouse gas emissions
• private nonprofit organizations,
• Matching funds must be in the form of cash or confirmed funding commitments and be at least equal to the grant amount.
•  

   

  Plants feed on the nutrients that slowly seep from  charcoal. And, somewhat mysteriously, the microbial activity that makes compost  effective is dramatically energized by the presence of bio-char.

   

   
• Energy Technologies,

• PerkinElmer expands its biofuels solutions portfolio

   PerkinElmer Inc., a global leader focused on the health and safety of people and the environment, announced a major expansion of its EcoAnalytix biofuels analytical solutions portfolio. The Company has expanded its biodiesel and bioethanol portfolio to include nine analyzers and systems, crossing six technologies: ICP-optical emission spectroscopy, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, infrared, differential scanning calorimetry, and liquid scintillation counters. MO

• Interior Department Awards $15 Million for Forest Thinning on Public Lands  

   

  The U.S. Department of the Interior announced last week that it will award $15 million to 55 projects that will thin overgrown forests and remove potential fuels for wildfires on public lands. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds will create jobs in rural communities in 12 states, and many of the projects will produce biomass that can be converted into energy. The so-called "hazardous fuels reduction" projects include efforts to remove accumulated deadwood and dense underbrush from forests near communities that are susceptible to wildfires. The wood removed during such projects is generally of a poor quality that is not wanted by lumber mills, but it can serve as an excellent source of biomass energy. The 55 projects are being carried out under the Interior Department's Wildland Fire Management program, and 23 of them are specifically designated as biomass utilization projects. Those 23 biomass energy projects are located in eight states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. See the Interior Department's press release and list of projects.  
• Yuba County ID #1096: 35 acres between two undeveloped parcels near Camp Far West Lake, for lease or partnership. There are 25 acres in Yuba County, near Wheatland, and 10 acres just over the border in Placer County. The owner, who does not live in the area, would like to see them farmed or grazed and is accepting proposals. The 10-acre parcel receives Nevada Irrigation District water and the owner plans to develop a well on the second. The parcels are flat or gradually sloping, one with a view of the Reservoir. The owner, a plant physiologist, may be willing to invest in additional infrastructure, and would permit a mobile home or other temporary residence.
• Sacramento County ID #1093: 5 acres on 80-acre Delta property available for
  beginning an innovative farm partnership. Just over 30 acres of this
  Courtland ground are currently planted in alfalfa, and the owner has plans
  for a 40-acre olive planting in contract with an olive oil company. Good
  delta soils and ample irrigation water make for good farming potential.
  Although not highly experienced in farming, the owner is an experienced
  businessman and has already committed significant resources to this project.
  He has built a house on the property and has a substantial amount of farm
  equipment. He seeks a farmer with skills and ideas to propose another
  agricultural enterprise for an innovative farming partnership. He is
  prepared to invest in start-up, and would make additional ground available
  to expand the project if it appeared promising. He has also begun a "Green
  Earth Project" incorporating inner-city youth outreach, and hopes soon to
  develop alternative energy sources on the property.
• “The technology  to produce such crops is basically an intelligent use of soil science  knowledge,” agreed Dan Kittredge. 

  • Use Agricar
• Millions of people are working on behalf of  strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers.   This kindness of  strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific  eighteenth-century  roots.  Abolitionists were the first people to create a national  and global movement to  defend the rights of those they did not know.  Until that time, no group had filed a  grievance except on  behalf of itself.
• life creates the conditions that are conducive  to life.
• We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes  without people and tens  of thousands of abandoned people without homes.  We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save  failed assets.  Think about this: we are the only species on  this planet without  full employment.  Brilliant.

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