
John James Audubon painted birds. His seminal work, Birds of America, was a collection of 435 life-size prints. To this day, when you hear the name Audubon, you think of birds. Interestingly enough, John James Audubon had no direct involvement with the founding of the National Audubon Society. Audubon’s widow, Lucy, tutored a man named George Bird Grinnell and some of Audubon’s love of birds must have rubbed off, as Grinnell was one of the Audubon Society’s founders. To this day, the Audubon Society persists in its mission “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.” The Audubon Society works to achieve this mission through a national network of community-based nature centers and chapters and scientific, educational, and advocacy programs. Continue reading about National Audubon Society…

Do you know how to make any sport better? Just put the word “arena” in front of it! Arena Soccer, arena badminton, arena fishing, arena skydiving… you get the point. Putting “arena” in front of a sport’s name is only second to putting “extreme” in front of it. Well one of the sports that actually works (not necessarily better) in an arena is football. The Arena Football League is putting out a product that is exciting to watch and offers an option for the football junkies who are bored to tears in the offseason. Getting a job in sports can be tough, and getting a job with a team in a major sports league can be near impossible. Sometimes looking to the secondary leagues (sorry AFL) can offer great options. Continue reading about Arena Football League Teams…

We hope you had a safe 4th of July. Unfortunately, every year some people don’t. Fireworks are a lot of fun, but they can result in some really nasty burns and injuries. Since we encouraged you to blow stuff up yesterday, we thought we’d counter that by featuring a non-profit organization that helps children who endure severe burns. The Shriners Hospitals for Children do exactly that. Who are Shriners? They wear funny hats. They drive little cars in parades. They’re Freemasons. And most importantly, they help kids through their hospitals. That’s going to be our focus today, since new college grads probably aren’t too interested in being part of a fraternal organization that seems like it probably has an average age north of 60. Then again, you probably got all hot and bothered about your college’s greek organizations and secret societies. Continue reading about Shriners Hospitals for Children…

Typically young children are quite realistic about their career aspirations. They want to be firefighters, policemen, and teachers - professions that are in constant, steady demand. The more ambitious children might want a job as a doctor or veterinarian - still steady, but requiring a significant investment in education. It almost seems that as children we’re more realistic about life and careers than we are when we reach adulthood - except those kids who wanted to be astronauts. Since the beginning of the space program, there have only been 321 astronauts selected. Ever. There’s no surefire (or easy) way to become an astronaut - pilots, schoolteachers, doctors, scientist, and engineers have all been astronauts - but if selection as an astronaut is one of your life goals, you need to start preparing now. If you’re not ready for the commitment that it takes to be an astronaut, there are still plenty of entry-level jobs at NASA that will enable you to have a meaningful impact on the space program and NASA’s other endeavors. Continue reading about NASA…