Our friends at Google are constantly creating services that make our lives better and more manageable. Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has been working on creating a tool, Google Powermeter, for Google users to track their electricity consumption via their iGoogle homepage.

While some conspiracy theorists might think this is just another way for “big brother” to keep tabs on all that we do. I politely disagree. This is a non-invasive means for people to track their electricity consumption for personal monitoring and improvement. I mean, if “big brother” really wanted to keep tabs on your electrical consumption they would find a way that is not voluntary and they would not be telling you about it.

So, conspiracy theories aside, this is a great tool soon to be offered by Google that will give everyone the ability to become personally accountable for the electricity that they consume. There is another part to this equation and that is the smart meter. The Obama administration, as part of its stimulus package, has pledged over the next three years to upgrade 40 million homes with these smart meters.

As Lord Kelvin said, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

A fellow human, Crazzy Eve of London, England saw a T-mobile commercial that took place in Liverpool Street Station that showed a large group of people dancing. This is when he decided that he wanted to re-create the commercial with himself and a group of his friends, and their friends, and their friends, and their friends…..

By creating a group on the social media site Facebook, Crazzy Eve was able to enlist his friends who in turn recruited their friends and so on. The end result is hundreds of people gathering at 7 PM on a particular night and peacefully dancing to the music on their iPods, or in their heads.

This is another fantastic example of one persons vision coming to life with the help of a group of like minded individuals. As I have said earlier it takes only person to make a difference big or small. No matter how far out there or crazy your idea may seem (to yourself or others), with the right mindset anything is achievable. You doubt me? Lets take the first electric lamps, they were housed behind glass because people were scared of them. Can you imagine feeling that way about your bedside lamp today?

There are three palm island developments and a group of islands resembling the world in Dubai, each full of luxury and splendor. All of the grandness and human rights debates aside. These islands are engineering marvels. To create an island seems to be an easy enough task, find some water and pour dirt and rock into a focused place until the dirt and rock rise above the water. But, to do that and make it stable for construction is a whole different ball game. Then you add on to that the fact that there is a design involved and this group of islands is made into a specific arrangement of shapes, is extremely impressive to me. The creativity, vision, persistence, and perseverance that it took to create these islands is awe inspiring. And to think, it all started with one persons idea.

The classic Stand By Me, originally performed by Ben E. King, is performed by 37 musicians from five different continents. Each of these artists recorded their individual tracks live and in separate locations around the world. All of these individual tracks were then compiled into one global masterpiece. Well worth spending 6 minutes of your day to listen and feel how powerful this song really is.

For more information about the song and the people behind it visit Playing for Change.

Bernard Casasola, a 58 year old man from Argentina, spent 7 and a half years creating an intricate model. The model is a 10 and a half foot long Spanish Galleon model made entirely of matchsticks. Talk about dedication and determination.