Who are you?

“Any life is made up of a single moment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.”

 Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinean Poet

Tuesday Tech: Blogging

Blog is short for web log. A Blog is a therefore, a record on the internet. A record of thoughts, pictures, diary entries. They are generally personal musings. I assume because you are reading my blog that you have some familiarity, of course!

Did you know I have a second blog: Wild about Travel, which is more of my hobby blog?

I have three questions:

1. Are you thinking of blogging. What are you thinking of blogging about?

2. Who else is currently publishing a blog about the not for profit sector, volunteerism ect ? I would love your inputs as to the range of blogs.  Susan Ellis has an excellent list at EnergizeInc

3. Those who are writing blogs, what platform do you use?  If you are wanting to blog There are a tonne of blogging platforms available to use in publishing a blog. See How To: Choose The Right Platform For Your Business Blog. I personally use Blogger for this blog and WordPress on my Wild about Travel blog. I think I prefer Blogger and am curious as to what others feel? Have never used Tumblr for example. I was interested in these bloggers who have made the switch from Blogger: So, WordPress and I switched from blogger to wordpress, and survived

Thank you

Monday Motivation: Alter by Millimetre

"The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you can alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change the world."-James Baldwin

This week

I am at a Health Volunteerism Conference this week while finishing a report. Am thinking I really, really need to get my book finished. Its already April, and I have only added a few words! Any advice on how to get me done?

Volunteer Week US and Canada

Hope everyone is having a good Volunteer Week?!

Love to see any pics or hear any storeis of events here or on my Facebook. 

Monday Motivation: Make it Fantastic!

Is this True?

The way to be happy is to make others so." ~Robert G. Ingersol

How to become Happy

I was struck by The World Happiness Report. This document edited by Jeffery Sachs, of Columbia University with John Helliwell and Richard Layard identifies the Top Ten Happiest Countries are:

• Denmark
• Finland
• Norway
• The Netherlands
• Canada
• Switzerland
• Sweden
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Ireland.

The 10 least happy countries:

•  Togo
• Benin
• Central African Republic
• Sierra Leone
• Burundi
• Comoros
• Haiti
• Tanzania
• Congo (Brazzaville) 
• Bulgaria.

The report noted that social factors such strength of social support, the absence of corruption and the degree of personal freedom were more important than wealth. Sachs said:  "The US has had a three-time increase of GNP per capita since 1960 but the happiness needle hasn't budged. Other countries have pursued other policies and achieved much greater gains of happiness, even at much lower levels of per capita income."

The report also lists a number of practical suggestions to promote happiness including:

•  helping people meet their basic needs
• reinforcing social systems
• implementing active labour policies
• improving mental health services
• promoting compassion, altruism and honesty
• helping the public resist hyper-commercialism

Food for thought. 

World Changer: Margaret Bell

Back in 1996, I was a very fledgling volunteer manager living in Sydney, Australia and the group that gave me much practical help and support were what were then called Volunteer Centre of NSW (later Volunteering NSW and now The Centre for Volunteering).

It was at this time, I met Margaret Bell, who had led that organisation for 13 years. I learnt a huge  amount from Margaret and her team who encouraged and supported me. Her achievements and contribution to volunteering were fairly amazing at a state, national and international level as well as at an individual level.

Margaret helped start the Australian Council for Volunteering (ACV) in 1993 which morphed into Volunteering Australia. Margaret was the first CEO of Volunteering Australia.


Margaret's work led to Match Point, Australia's first computerised volunteer matching software.

In the time I knew her, Margaret introduced me to IAVE, the International Association for Voluntary Effort which she was President of for many years.

It was under Margaret that the Universal V volunteer symbol was introduced. A symbol that was given to to Volunteering Australia and the International Association for Voluntary Effort (IAVE) to be used universally as a symbol of volunteering. Sadly, Volunteering Australia and the Australian volunteering bodies have now dropped the symbol which I think was a retrograde step in individual marketing.

After time as first CEO of Volunteering Australia, Margaret went onto Civicus and Chain Reaction, which she founded.

I caught up with Margaret at the Australian Volunteer conference at the Gold Coast in 2008 and I told her how much I had appreciated her support. It was at this Conference that she gave The inaugural Margaret Bell Spirit of Volunteering Address. This represented the start of a healing process as Margaret's time at Volunteering Australia ended in some messy politics and from my viewpoint some estrangement from the organisation. Now that process has reached a new level. Margaret Bell AM, first President and first CEO of Volunteering Australia is now the first patron of the organisation.

She says:  I am honoured to be asked to take on the position of Patron of Volunteering Australia. My passion for volunteering is still strong and I look forward to supporting Volunteering Australia in their great initiatives to advance volunteering in the Australian community.

Congratulations Margaret - and thank you.

Tuesday Tech: Farmers Start Tweeting

West Australia's Sunday Times report the phenomena of Australian farmers tweeting. In the wake of the animal abuses recorded in the industry last year, farmers are looking for a way to communicate their work to city residents. This could be one way to bridge the urban rural divide in Australia. 

Animal Rights advocates have been very good with Social Media whilst farmers have been largely silent. Now West Australian Rural Woman of the Year, Catherine Marriott, (@roseycatherine) will run workshops across the state to help farmers understand how to use the technology. 

I am now following Stepahnkis  Coombs  who will be tweeting live from a cattle muster. Follow me @martinjcowling as I follow her and/or follow her directly @ausagventures  I also follow @AnimalsAus

Other farmers to follow:

@farmersway, @territorycattle, @kelpiestockdogs, @ABCcoppin, @WAfarmers, @meatlivestock

On the animal rights "side":

@animalrights, @Animal_Law, @AnimalRightsCom, @Animal_Place, @Animals_Watch, @Animalforce

Monday Motivation:Run Wild

I blogged yesterday in my other blog  (Wild about Travel) about a 10km (6mile) run I  completed in Perth Australia. It was my first run since I injured my knee in a fall. I finished the course in under 55 minutes.

What reall motivated me was running with my friend Clare- Thank you! We paced each other for the first 5.5 Kilometres when I moved slightly ahead. 

Then I ran For the next two 2.5 kilometres I kept pace with a stranger. He was a guy from Perth who played gridiron (American Football). 

I really appreciated the motivations of a friend and a stranger who ensured I finished successfully. 

Metaphor for life?

Google Maps April Fools Release

I loved this newest release of Google maps. Did you catch up with it?

They announced that the release of Google Maps 8-bit for NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), the highly popular gaming console which sold over 60 million units worldwide in the1980s. In this version of Google maps. the maps become highly pixellated and directions appear as staright lines and intersections populated by Nintendo games characters.

Google says it is going to release an NES game cartridge in the Google Store "as soon as possible" but a trial version is available for download at: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=ll
It is well worth looking at!