Every regular user of Mozilla Firefox, the open source web browser, will recognize its extensibility by the incorporation of add-ons – software extensions that provide additional functions or customisation.

 

In fact, the thousands of add-ons that exist and are compatible with Firefox, propel the internet users’ experience beyond the act of searching information and the ability to send and receive emails via the web.

 

Inspired by the verb to plug-in, a plug-in is computer program or device that interacts with Firefox to add a specific function, or supports a specific file format not normally built into the browser. For instance, there are plug-ins to view PDF files, to play games or to play flash videos among many other possibilities.

 

I have used many add-ons aver the years but here are 6 Firefox add-ons I recommend you to have to push forward your internet experience

 

 

1 Xmarks

This add-on keeps your bookmarks, open tabs and passwords (if you wish) synchronized across computers and browsers. This means that, the way you closed the browser at your office will be the same way you will find it on the browser at home.

 

2 Shareaholic

The Shareaholic add-on provides the easiest way to share interesting links using Facebook, Twitter, Bitly, StumbleUpon, and many more services. If you like sharing links, this is you extension.

 

3 Web-Of-Trust Safe browsing tool

Web of Trust (WOT) add-on shows a traffic-light rating symbols to show which websites you can trust when you search, shop and surf on the Web.

 

4 Tiny Menu

This extension replaces the standard menu bar at the top of the browser with a tiny menu pop-up, creating more space for buttons.

 

5 TimeTracker

If you think you spend too much time on Firefox, then this extension will help you to Keep track of how much you browse (using Firefox).

 

6 Xpnd.it ! Short URL Expander

This add-on expands and analyzes any tiny URL to avoid clicking on potentially harmful, malicious links and supports more than 500 services.

 

Out of the thousands of plug-ins at addons.mozilla.org (AMO), you certainly have your preferences, which I would like to know. Comment below to share yours.

 

Firefox add-ons illustration by Foomandoonian.

Filed under: Tech Tagged: Add-ons, Firefox, Mozilla, Plug-ins, postaweek2011

There are many political, religious and social leaders throughout the world who have been inspired by Mahatma Ghandhi’s famous statement: “You must be the change you want to see in the world”.

Man is bound to face challenges, but whatever the challenge, I think everyone can be the change he/she wants to see in the world, if he so desires and is determined to. Browsing the web and reading about the notion of changing the world, here are 2 sources I found interesting:

Source 1: 3 steps to be the change you want to see by eHow.

First, realize what kind of change you want to see in the world. Does the world need more peace? love? Excitement?
When you have figured that out, I suggest study books and people that live this stuff real life.

Second, when you study books and people that live the type of change you want to see in the world, model your behavior after these people. Realize you are not copying them, but just modeling them to produce similar results.

Third, once you model people who are living a life that is indicative of being a positive change in the world, you will begin to see that your behavior indeed overtime does reflect being the change you wanted to see. By completing your goal, you must acknowledge and be thankful for being able to successfully become this change.

Source 2: Inspired by Ghandhi, Michael Angier, listed 10 things to think about… to be the change you want to see. An amazing list of which here is an excerpt.

1. Know that all significant change throughout history has occurred not because of nations, armies, governments and certainly not committees. They happened as a result of the courage and commitment of individuals. People like Joan of Ark, Albert Einstein, Clara Barton, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison and Rosa Parks. They might not have done it alone, but they were, without question, the change makers.

2. Believe that you have a unique purpose and potential in the world. It’s not so much something to create as to be discovered. And it’s up to you to discover it. Believe that you can and will make a difference.
…
…
10. In order for things to change, YOU have to change. We can’t change others; we can only change ourselves. However, when WE change, it changes everything. And in doing so, we truly can be the change we want to see in the world.

Do you believe one person can change the world?

Filed under: Tips Tagged: Change, Ghandhi, Inspiration, postaweek2011

Due to a busy month of December 2010, I did not read the very interesting 2010 World Malaria Report soon after it was published.

The Report reveals continued progress made towards meeting the targets for malaria to be achieved by 2015.

While Morocco and Turkmenistan were certified by WHO as having eliminated malaria, (hooray!) reappearances in malaria cases were observed in parts of at least three African countries (Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, and Zambia).

Financial disbursements in favour of the fight against malaria reached their highest level ever in 2009 at $1.5 billion. This funding considerably contributed to the 42% of African households to own at least one insecticide treated bednet, and making 35% of children under five years of age to sleep under an insecticide treated bednet compared to previous years.

Very good news is that, the number of deaths due to malaria is estimated to have decreased from 985,000 in 2000 to 781,000 in 2009.

This series of good news does not mean malaria is off course. The parasite at the origin of this disease is still present and we have to continue the fight in 2011. Let’s be vigilant, let’s keep donating and let’s remain actively involved!

For more details on the Report, you can download its PDF version or other resources.

Filed under: Malaria, MDGS Tagged: malaria, report

Today is the beginning of  the second half of January, and I was wondering if any one could tell if he/she has made progress toward achieving New Year resolutions?

For some people it may not be easy to answer this question. Here is a tip to ensure that you make progress toward achieving your New Year’s resolution(s).

Outline clearly – with the most details possible – the various steps or actions to accomplish that will lead to your resolution’s achievement. Then, as time goes on, make sure that you complete all those steps or actions.

I’d appreciate you participate in the poll below or appreciate the above tip with your comments.

 

View This Poll
online survey

Filed under: Poll, Time Management Tagged: new year's resolution, poll, tips

Today is the beginning of  the second half of January, and I was wondering if any one could tell if he/she has made progress toward achieving New Year resolutions?

For some people it may not be easy to answer this question. Here is a tip to ensure that you make progress toward achieving your New Year’s resolution(s).

Outline clearly – with the most details possible – the various steps or actions to accomplish that will lead to your resolution’s achievement. Then, as time goes on, make sure that you complete all those steps or actions.

I’d appreciate you participate in the poll below or appreciate the above tip with your comments.

 

View This Poll
online survey

Filed under: Poll, Time Management Tagged: new year's resolution, poll, tips

In fact, it’s less than a week that I published my first Postaweek2011 note, including the 2 main blogging goals I want to achieve in 2011.

Since then, I’ve posted a number of comments on a few blogs I found interesting at first sight and the people behind those blogs, who are also blogging buddies. Among these blogs, count teRRibLy AdicTiVE and The Trouble’s Friend.

teRRibLy AdicTiVE is run by a Ghanaian blogger who wants to post everyday. This offers me an additional option to hear more about life in general in one Africa’s very first independent nations.

The Trouble’s Fried is run by a student who is new with blogging. The blogger wants to post every week, just as I would like.

Two reasons for choosing these two buddies?

Note that it was not easy to choose these two bloggers out of the hundreds who showed interest to have a blogging buddy (including me) on the Daily Post Challenge website. I hope my buddies will come and confirm this statement via a comment.

Reason 1: Since I’m a training course designer, this year I’m designing a free 1-hour- training course related to goal setting. As you can see, my first 2 buddies have a goal each : to Post every day and to Post every week respectively. So I want to observe them to hopefully understand some of the reasons why people in general don’t succeed with achieving all their goals. Hey buddies, rest assured I want you to succeed 100%, and ready to help you through.

Reason 2: To make my role as observer more interesting, finding a buddy gives me the opportunity to make new friends, socialise and learn new things about life at various corners of the blue planet.

Reason 3: Through this initiative, I wish that with time and before the year ends, we (the buddies) will be able to really embark on something  that will make the world a little bit smaller and better in some way.

NOTES:

• Though I’m a #PostAWeek2011 participant, I will not limit myself to post once in a week. Don’t be surprised to get more than one update in a week if you’ve subscribed for updates via email.

• My Postaweek2011 notes will be out on Fridays 11am (GMT)

• I created a list of twitter users who took the Daily Post Challenge. You can follow that list or myself. I would appreciate.

Until next week!

Filed under: Post Everyday Challenge Tagged: postaweek2011

In 2011, I plan to take my blogging experience to a different level. Not only do I want to post regularly, but also to post more valuable material for you.

I have set 2 main achievements to make in this year’s blogging plan. They are to:

1. Move this blog from the free WordPress.com to a self-hosted blog still powered by WordPress.
2. Provide you with inspiring, interesting, original and informative content.

Though I have my little idea to walk towards completing this plan successfully, I’m participating in the Post Everyday Challenge, but opting for the Post a Week 2011 campaign.

This challenge is an experimentation in “blogging motivation” from the folks at WordPress.com who hope that it will help bloggers get the most out of their blog.

If you are already one of the readers of this blog, please wish me luck and feel free to suggest stuff or ideas you’d like to read about. Your comments, likes, tweets and shares are welcome.

Filed under: Post Everyday Challenge Tagged: postaweek2011

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 42 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 203 posts. There were 75 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 15mb. That’s about 1 picture uploaded per week.

The busiest day of the year was February 26th with 121 views. The most popular post that day was Jaycees Abroad Interview N°1 – Patrick Mang.

Where did my readers come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, joendzulo.tk, en.search.wordpress.com, and tndzulo.blogspot.com. Actuall, I was expecting Blogspot to lead but it’s a good news Facebook.com did.

Some visitors came searching and reading posts about malaria, the mtn fixnet, and Materne Bossou.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010. Feel free to comment after reading them.

1. Jaycees Abroad Interview N°1 – Patrick Mang February 2010
2. I Moved to WordPress.com February 2010
3. My “About” page May 2008
4. From Accra to Kete Krachie to Fight Against Malaria June 2010
5. 9 Ways to Combat Malaria August 2010

Keep reading this blog in 2011 for more updates.

Happy New Year

Filed under: Best Of Tagged: blog stats

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 42 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 203 posts. There were 75 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 15mb. That’s about 1 picture uploaded per week.

The busiest day of the year was February 26th with 121 views. The most popular post that day was Jaycees Abroad Interview N°1 – Patrick Mang.

Where did my readers come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, joendzulo.tk, en.search.wordpress.com, and tndzulo.blogspot.com. Actuall, I was expecting Blogspot to lead but it’s a good news Facebook.com did.

Some visitors came searching and reading posts about malaria, the mtn fixnet, and Materne Bossou.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010. Feel free to comment after reading them.

1. Jaycees Abroad Interview N°1 – Patrick Mang February 2010
2. I Moved to WordPress.com February 2010
3. My “About” page May 2008
4. From Accra to Kete Krachie to Fight Against Malaria June 2010
5. 9 Ways to Combat Malaria August 2010

Keep reading this blog in 2011 for more updates.

Happy New Year

Filed under: Best Of Tagged: blog stats

For me, it all started on December 11 2004. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday. Ikome Joseph (Jo!) was chapter President of JCI University of Buea and a good number of the association’s members gathered at the terrace of the bakery opposite UB’s main entrance. We were celebrating JCI’s 60th anniversary also known as JCI Day. It’s on that day the name Raul Garcia Vidal stuck on my mind.

Since then, every December 11 is a day during which I reflect on previous personal and group achievements since I joined JCI. In 2010, the result of all my actions is summarized in the 3 points below:

1. Became a JCI Certified National Trainer (CNT). A level of the JCI Training programme, offering the opportunity to conduct training internationally and to design a 1-hour training course.
2. Took part in the Blood donation day project (Grande Journée de Collecte de Sang), of JCI Abengourou, during which 104 bags of blood were collected from volunteer donors and donated to the Ivorian National Center for Blood Collection to save lives.
3. Posted on my Facebook wall and Twitter profile JCI news and updates, which resulted to one question coming from left and right: “What is JCI?”

However, from December 11 2010, JCI Day changes to “JCI Active Citizen Day”. A change announced by Edson Kodama, JCI’s Secretary General as a day to reflect JCI’s “commitment to creating positive change”, and to encourage members to take the opportunity of the change to renew their commitment to making a difference. Here is an excerpt of the announcement.

For the past 22 years, I have been part of this wonderful organization and have witnessed the passion of JCI members creating positive change in their communities and around the world. JCI Active Citizen Day is not just a time to celebrate these young leaders, but to pioneer new efforts to bring about the change we desire. This year, I encourage you to take JCI Active Citizen Day to the next level. Do something in your community that other members can look back on in the future and celebrate your positive impact.

This is a powerful call Edson Kodama is making, motivating me to ask myself what is that difference I want to make in my community next year or in the next 10 years? The answer will be posted on this blog.

While the answer is in the making, I want to share with you that a better world starts with a better me and a better you. Find out how to be better.

Happy JCI Active Citizen Day.

 

Filed under: JCI Tagged: active_citizen_day