Hello everyone,

I know taking pictures is a lot of fun and posting them online such as here adds to the intrigue.

Thanks to Digital cameras we can take many more than in the past without film development concerns and end up with hundreds of great pictures.
However beyond having a lot of photo memories, what to do with them?

I have an photography group  myself that I began before joining several at Gaia.com.
I often look for something web users such as myself can do with their individual photos.
Entering contest is one that can be fun and perhaps financially rewarding. After a lot of web research however I find the best one are far and few in-between.
One of the very few good ones I know of is at  Competico.com where membership is free and the cost to enter most contest is fairly affordable as in one or two dollars.

Since like many of you I keep finding something of beauty or of other interest out there to take pictures of I have also kept looking for other avenues to post photos and share some of what I have. Recently I was doing an intense search for an online money making opportunity as a sideline to what is otherwise simply uploading photos for comments. I found 3 and of these one stands out far beyond what I would have thought someone such as myself could do with his pictures.

Follow this link to my page at Zazzle.com  

and discover what I have been doing there with various scenes I have managed to snapshot over the past several years.

Zazzle is, as it impresses me is geared for an almost unbelievable degree of personal creativity. membership is complexly free and unlike many other photo related web sites they allow you to upload as many images as you wish ..really.. and they also allow very large individual photo file uploads. They actually want you too so that the end product will have a high definition appearance. I have uploaded many files so far that are about 20 megabytes a piece. Other are much smaller such as around 2 megabytes. I wont attempt to describe here everything you can create there, however here are some item's you can create and personalize there: mouse pads, posters, calendars, clothing-such as caps, handbags, T shirt's, postcards and Greeting cards.

I haven't found anything there I consider to be a snag yet and I doubt you will either, which is why I feel it worth mentioning here.

Your new Gallery page is very customizable if you choose to and you will most likely have page visitors soon after posting your first item. This web site is operating in hyper mode as you will see. So even if you aren't that interested in selling online products you may get some pleasure from all the comments you will be getting from your photography.

Its fun and it can be profitable too. Check it out.

I also have a personal website that you may wish to visit. Basically I talk about photography as it applies to me and link from that website to just about anywhere else on the web I post photographs.
It's a work that is always in some state of progress.  I call it Shadowchasers Realm.
The name is meant to indicate one who gets around a lot.
In case you were wondering. Shadowchaser is also my Cb handle when I am out and about in the semi. .. natch.

Shadowchaser

The World is a big place sure enough but I don't believe that is what makes it difficult to keep up .
The problem I believe stems from us knowing what were told from a choice of a select few News sources and what they happen to be reporting on at any given time. I have found several websites that scour the planet for news that may matter and check in with them often for off the wall reports.

1) Millennium Ark  This website offers a lot of data daily. They tend to list news that pertains to world subject matter from many different sources.
With-in their website how ever you may want to have a look at this page called Threat Watch.
On that page you can find charts and or active online maps covering many important subjects such as: Tsunamis..Hurricanes..Fire Outbreaks..Flooding..Droughts..Global Incidents and Global Disasters and more.

2) Truthout.org  This is an at a glance news source. Something for everyone and they don't believe in having you denied news worthy stories.
 
3) The Union of Concerned Scientist  In their words -
"The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world".
UCS combines independent scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate practices, and consumer choices.
Basically speaking you can find very helpful information from their website on everything from whats in your food to some of the latest thinking cocerning Global Warming.
I like this site plenty and I think you will too.

4) Sheriff Jim online  Sheriff Jim is a retired Sheriff and among others interest continuously updates his website with News you may not hear of anywhere else. It's part politics, part world events and much more. As he says "The Truth will set you free". That is what he is about. Identifying corruption and helping get the word out. Im sure you will find some of interest just in a single visit to his website. And may the Truth set you indeed set you free.

The Douglass Report

I found this website last year and have found it very helpful as well as interesting along the lines of finding some truth, medically speaking. This Doctor also offers a free news letter as well as a free to read news article section.

While amateur photography is a hobby and one I am passionate about, I would like to take a moment to reflect on another Blog at this website that a friend sent to me.
The friend is another new Gaia member and her Profile can be found here. Safirelady.
She tends ot be a very insightful lady indeed. A progressive kind of thinker who often sees beyond and too a depth. I often talk with her about life's many issues.
And as often she helps me find something I might surely have other wised missed.
Even though she is a newer member than I, she pointed out a video here that was taken of George Carlin.
The video is called: " George Carlin on the American Dream, viewable by folowwing this link. ".
As I watched this video I felt that George Carlin must surely be one of the,  best get it right speakers I have heard in a long time.
His cutting edge insight into whats behind what we deal with in America seems to be right on target. he says what I often think when it comes to some of the woes that loom just behind many a turn. I suppose there are better ways to put that. But it all come down to the same thing.
Excessive greed and general lack of truth to the American public from those who have sworn to serve. Who they end up serving is the real question, because then ma-by you can figure out how you wont benefit and why you haven't been, and wont be. We need to consider failings of the past and realize that they will continue unless someone comes along who's intent is in the right place and current with the times. As I have mentioned to a few friends. It seems to me that the next American President will will as important as George Washington was with little concern for all those who are in between. I believe the future will be like a unique kind of turmoil and unexpected things will come our way. By our I mean the peace seeking part of the world. They know who they are. But do they know how to achieve it and keep it. It will take someone who actually has a plan and can hang in there with it.
We all now live with-in such a connective society that to have a loss of one major commodity would most likely mean the loss of others.
Consider for instance if there was a Global Oil Crunch and what that would lead to. This web site offers a lot of information concerning Oil usage. be sure and look lower on the page for the article referred to as COLLISION IN SLOW MOTION .
Im not going to get into End times stuff here, not yet anyway, but it can help to give some thought to various negative possibilities that may occur and what if anything should be done.
One website that offers a quick view of Gasoline prices is called Gas Buddy found here.
I have no affiliations with them but occassionally use this website just to see where ther best fuel prices are to be found. It can be interesting to check on pricing around the country.
For now I will leave you with that and move on.....

I am an over the road truck driver and listen to various talk radio shows a lot.
I have been doing so for many years now and am therefore up to speed on a lot of issues.
In a sense these are no fun to think about. On the other many are way too important not too.
No doubt from time to time I will post some of these concerns here.
That doesn't mean I necessarily have the best answers but will simply try to help bring something of personal interest to the attention of the viewing public.
There are movie stars that are taking an active role in helping identify various problems with-in our Society. One example is a huge effort by Kelly Preston, who is also the loving wife of John Travolta.  Kelly Preston and husband together are making a difference in getting the word out to Parents and Children concerning Drug abuse. This goes way beyond the casual offer on the streets to buy them. But read for yourself. at this website where she offers a free information pack for Parents and their Children.
In researching her valiant efforts to help children further I discovered that she has also co-hosted a video with Olivia Newton-John,  on Ways to Avoid Exposing Children to Chemicals in the Home. Worth reading and probably worth ordering as well. Read about the video here.

Well there are many issues that should be of immense concern these days and one reason I consider many that involve children has to do with a belief that when a society seems to have little concern for its children than ma-by its on the wrong track on a lot of things.  We were after all once children.  There is I am sure plenty of concern for children in the USA and hopefully with-in many other Countries as well. But not all. One thing we can and should do is to try to stay abreast of situations with-in our homes and consider carefully what we buy and keep around. I am indeed find of Kelly Preston and her husband John Travolta.
I like them in movies and I like them as people and am proud to say that thanks to folks such as these many more will find answers before its too late.