There is a gigantic ball of gas burning all the time in the middle of our solar system. You might as well cook something while it’s on.

Summer seems like it’s just around the corner and I am moving into a place with a south facing back yard. I have been thinking about cooking with the sun. I don’t know how useful the kit in the picture would be, but it looks pretty simplistic.

SCI has developed a very simple solar cooker for use in refugee camps. After reading up on this program, I felt compelled to make a modest donation to the organization. Here is a video showing people in Chad building and using the cookers…

First off, I need to back up on some of my criticism of Avril Lavigne. I think she has a good work ethic and a lot of character. She has always been willing to step up for charity and I think that it says something in her case, because I think most of her fans would not really notice if she didn’t work for charities.

I think battling AIDS is one of the best battles to choose when you have a voice that people are listening to around the World. This is a disease that can be fought with education and outreach. those who are already victim to it can be helped a great deal, but drugs are expensive and the disease is at its most rampant in some of the poorest places on Earth.

IndieMV.com has a contest associated with the upcoming “Unite Against AIDS” benefit concert on November 28, 2007. Here is a press release with more details. If you like making videos, you need to check this out…

IndieMV - Music+People

IndieMV.com Launches and Partners With UNICEF for Upcoming, Star-Studded, ‘Unite Against AIDS’ Benefit Concert

Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan and Others to Perform at UNICEF AIDS Benefit Concert as IndieMV Provides Music-Video Based Contests to Promote Awareness

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–IndieMV Media Group announced today the official launch of the Company’s web site www.IndieMV.com and shared details about their recent partnership with UNICEF to provide music-video based contests surrounding the upcoming “Unite Against AIDS” benefit concert on November 28, 2007.

IndieMV.com, is a video-based website that has been designed to connect independent music artists, fans, and labels through social networking. The website is not only a video marketplace for musicians but also a social networking service for students, music lovers, and users that simply want to connect. Services to users are based around networking tools such as video blogging (or ‘vlogging’), private web-cam messaging, photo sharing, as well as access to music videos, interviews, and much more. Services to musicians include digital distribution with revenue share on video downloads along with access to all user-based features.

IndieMV also offers users a new technology called ‘Sliders’. Sliders are an advanced tagging system that allows users to easily search content on a more personalized level. It is a filtering system that each user can customize to their personal interests and preferences.

Concurrent with the website launch, the Company is also pleased to announce their new relationship with UNICEF surrounding music-video based contests that have been organized to help promote their upcoming “Unite Against AIDS” benefit concert in Montreal, Canada on November 28, 2007, as well as promote independent music while spreading awareness for the “Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS” campaign. IndieMV will be hosting a music-video contest in conjunction with UNICEF. It has been designed to give youth the opportunity to share their impressions and thoughts on issues regarding AIDS and its effect on the world. UNICEF will provide audio tracks and visual footage, and IndieMV will provide the platform for uploading, viewing, and voting for the music videos. Over the next couple of months, the Company’s campus development efforts will carry the UNICEF message and encourage thousands to support the campaign and to build their scene on IndieMV.com.

Confirmed feature performers already include headliner Avril Lavigne, Grammy Award winner Sarah McLachlan, Corneille, Marie-Mai, Angelique Kidjo, and DJ Dino Lenny, as well as the winner of the IndieMV “Unite” band contest. Net proceeds from the concert will benefit UNICEF’s international ‘Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS’ campaign, which is the largest ever mounted to bring the world’s attention to the global impact of HIV and AIDS on children and young people. Please visit www.IndieMV.com for more details surrounding the contests and concert.

I was given a heads up about a worthy charity by Owen. He is one of the real people on my much neglected blog roll.

Playgrounds for Palestine UK is pretty self explanatory. It seems like childhood is always a casualty of conflict. Playgrounds for Palestine UK wants to build playgrounds for kids living under occupation and in refugee camps in Palestine.

An ex-colleague of Owen’s is taking donations for a fund raising cycling trip from London to Paris.

I am going to start this post by saying something that might sound shocking to some people. I have only ever had ONE cellphone. I do my part for the environment by not buying stuff that I don’t really need in the first place. That being said, it is good to see that sites like Wirefly.org are cropping up to address the huge number of cellphones that are being set aside by people who have a psychological or social need to have the latest phone.

If anybody had plans to give me an iPhone, please don’t let the preceding paragraph dissuade you.

Wirefly.org is a resource site put in place to help you make a responsible decision with regards to an unwanted phone. You can donate a phone to one of a broad list of charities. Or you can trade it for cash. Regardless of your choice, the organization the receives the phone has three paths for old phones to walk down, Reuse, Refurbishment, or Recycling.

It’s a big World out there and a phone that is several years old will suit folks in many corners of the World just fine. Mobile phone use is ubiquitous in many places that had never even developed to the point of having reliable land lines last century. It’s like they skipped a step. Pay as you go cell phones are a much more accessible, reliable and useful form of communication than land lines every could have been in many regions. Even in areas where residential electricity isn’t reliable, there are many ways to keep a phone charged. I hope to see the much reported new generation of photoelectric cells play a role in improved communication infrastructure around the World.

Old cell phones can be put to good use by domestic charities as well. Deactivated phones can serve as a lifeline for victims of violence. In North America, you can access 911 using a deactivated phone. Do not dial it just to see if I am right about this.

Many phones that are not working can be put back into service with some basic refurbishment. Some truly are toast and in those cases an environmentally responsible recycling facility is the best option. A lot of the electronics recycling burden is shipped overseas to countries that have under-regulated recycling businesses that are creating ecological disaster areas that have serious impact on human health. It’s ironic that many of the devices that are shipped to China, India and many African countries were put into the recycling stream by well meaning people, and in the end there old item is scrapped in a very unsafe and irresponsible manner.

There are state of the art recycling facilities in countries like Belgium.

BackgammonMasters.com, the best site for online backgammon has been backing boxer Roman Greenberg since he was a relative unknown. They couldn’t be prouder of this undefeated Russian Born Israeli has he prepares for an upcoming, high profile match.

He is getting ready to fight Damon Reed at the South Town Exhibition Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 18. You can actually see some of Damon’s earlier fights on YouTube. He is now a 35 year old veteran. His nickname is Dangerous. He has a good record, but he is not undefeated. I was looking at his schedule and as is typical, a high profile fighter doesn’t have to fight as often. He only had one fight in 2006.

Roman is a 25 year old newcomer that BackgammonMasters.com has been backing for some time. The backgammon website operators have a great deal of confidence and enthusiasm related to this young hopeful. They believe he can make it to the top of his sport. He is currently undefeated. His last fight was in Madiso Square Gardens against Mike Simms. The fight went all ten rounds and the judgement was unanimous, although the scoring was close. You can find out everything about a boxer online. I think that almost every aspect of every fight must have some money riding on it.

Gammonish is the online source for backgammon news and information. They have information related to this story and, of course, all the latest news in the world of backgammon.

I have probably mentioned my lack of stuff on this blog before. Being happy with what you have is one of the best feelings in the world. So what was I doing at a car boot sale this Sunday? Well my kids are involved in the SPCA, which had a table set up, so they wanted to check it out.

Here are the treasures that one of them found there:

I had no intention of buying anything, unless I saw a book at the SPCA table. My wife bought a book by Elizabeth David. I bought three audio cassettes. The one that I was happiest about was Look At Them Beans by the late Johnny Cash. It is unfortunately a bit worn out.