Associated Press:

Many of the nearly 650,000 displaced by Indonesia's earthquake are living with deteriorating sanitary conditions, forced to wash with dirty water that infects wounds and spreads skin disease, doctors said Sunday. Please consider donating to any of the many organizations providing relief assistance. We like the package and plan from World Vision, which has put together individual kits for survivors.

World Vision is one of many non-government organizations (NGOs) providing emergency survival kits in Indonesia, as a result of the recent earthquake there. World Vision's kits include blankets, temporary shelter, medicine and clothing. If you're seeking to help out with relief efforts there, please consider a donation to World Vision.

I know Lee will be interested in Anil's observations on web site comments.

Stop wandering aimlessly through that phone tree, and get a human on the line.

"This is hot." New fan-created Firefox ad that's really good.

Love coffee? Love cafes, but don't want to support the corporate monstrosity? Then use Delocator to find local shops near you. And please, if you know of a local cafe that's not listed on Delocator, add it!

[Waves of the phin to John, Paul, and John at FD.]

Since leaving yesterday at 6:40 AM, and arriving back home today at 3:40 PM CST, I've driven 1,122 miles, spent 17 hours in a vehicle, and spent $106 on gas for the minivan. Whew.

I knew about Dress for Success, because my wife's donated some of her business clothing to them before. Now, for men, there is Career Gear. If you have business suits still in good shape you no longer wear, consider donating them to these non-profits, and help low-income men and women move up the ladder. Who knows, you may see your suit again, on someone else!

The National Next of Kin Registry. Thanks to Motorola, I cannot look at NOKR's acronym without thinking of mobile phones.

Apparently, today is National Waffle Day. [Via Radical Breeze.]

Tom snapped photos at the gathering of Abdul Rahman supporters outside the Afghan embassy in D.C. today. Jeff was there as well.

The goal of $300 for the March of Dimes' WalkAmerica has been breached. I've now bumped the goal to double of the original double: $440. Help me help preemies!

You people are awesome. In less than two hours last night, you blew through the goal of $110 for the March of Dimes' WalkAmerica. So I doubled the goal to $220, and now you've blown through that as well, with donations now at $260. Do I hear $300?

Yes, folks, it's that time of year again. One of my favorite charities is having its annual fundraiser, and you--yes, you--can be a part of it. "How?" you might ask. Easy: sponsor me. My goal this year is to raise $110 before WalkAmerica 2006 here in Dallas on April 29th. So we have just under two months to get there. So, if you're a friend of mine, or a family member, and want to save yourself the anguish of my hitting you up for a charitable donation every time we chat, just hit the link now. This charity is near and dear to our hearts, as our little guy came nine weeks early, and we had first-hand experience with some of the work the March of Dimes does for preemies. Please help us help other preemies! Update: Just to show you I put my money where my mouth is, I've kicked things off with a $25 donation. With $5-10 here and there, we'll reach the goal of $110 in no time. No excuses about being poor college students, etc. Skip the pizza and beer for one sitting, and your donation's paid for. Update 2: Thanks to the generous spirits of some of my friends, we have already blown past the goal of $110 to reach $125. I've now doubled the goal to $220. Thanks so much to those who have given!

William Blair was recently outed as the secret benefactor to a group of World War II Pacific Theater former POWs, who get together for a monthly breakfast at Bunny's Restaurant in Suffolk, Virginia. I've met a good number of WWII vets in my time, and a few of them were POWs. Mr. Blair is correct in his noting that the Pacific Theater POWs usually get little mention compared to their European Theater brethren. I had the privilege in college of meeting a group of former POWs, including a Bataan Death March survivor. Those men have borne heavy burdens, and still do to this day. Mr. Blair, we salute you for your generosity and patriotism.

By now, most people have heard John Kerry's slanderous comments about our servicemen terrorizing women and children in Iraq. James Taranto turns the table on the man who would be President, noting a CNN story about what a handful of our servicemen are really up to: doing everything possible, with help from folks stateside, to see that a little Iraqi girl doesn't die from spina bifida.

During the Christmas season, one sees Angel Trees nearly everywhere: at work, in the malls, at church; you can hardly go anywhere without running in to an Angel Tree. Between church and work, we've already picked a few angels ourselves, and I'm sure many of you have, too. There is a group of children that are often overlooked this time of year, and those are the children of prison inmates. Prison Fellowship started its Angel Tree ministry in 1982, and has been going strong ever since. It's not these kids' fault their parents are behind bars, and they deserve to get something for Christmas as much as any other child. This year, a generous donor is matching all Angel Tree contributions up to $100,000, which means a normal donation that would give one child a gift will now serve two kids. So please consider making a donation that can turn what is often a lonely time for these kids into one of joy.

Soldiers' Angels has started Project Valour-IT, an endeavor to get voice-activated laptops to our wounded servicemen. To help with raising money for the project, a friendly competition has been set up between four teams, one for each of the service branches. Holly Aho is running the USMC team, which Hugh and Glenn are a part of. Sign up with one of the teams and donate to help out our wounded personnel.

I read an article in one of the local rags that donations to CCA are down in the wake of the massive outreach for hurricane victims. CCA is one of the leading charities in north Texas, serving primarily the communities between Dallas and Denton, with most of their efforts concentrated between Lewisville, Flower Mound, and Carrollton. CCA President Ed Johnson says, "All of the merchandise that has diverted to hurricane relief leaves the 12,000 people we serve each year short--very short." (CCA takes in unwanted items and resells them in a retail environment as one way of raising funds.) I'm sure there is a similar charity in your own community, which may be seeing a shortfall in light of hurricane relief efforts. I urge you to not forget about the help they give year-round, and to continue to support them, with your time or donations.

World Vision has started a relief fund for those affected by the earthquake in southwest Asia, which has claimed at least 20,000 lives in Pakistan alone.

There are a lot of people with overactive bladders, and let's face it, when you've got to go, you've got to go. Novartis Pharmaceuticals has teamed up with noted travelogue Arthur Frommer to develop a free booklet, Where to Stop & Where to Go, for use by those who may be away from their local comfort zone. Just read about it in Reader's Digest and thought I would pass it along.

Since you won't hear about it any where else, Arthur Chrenkoff has the latest good news from Afghanistan. It is amazing how much is happening in this now-free nation in such a short amount of time. It truly shows the bias and if-it-bleeds-it-leads mentality of the mainstream press that these stories are not getting more coverage. We wrought this, America, through the service and sacrifice of our sons and daughters in the armed services. They should be proud. We all should be.

World Vision is seeking donations to aid folks in Niger who are victims of the recent drought and locust swarms which have devastated crops in the country. If you are able and feel so inclined, please help.

Don't mess with Texas. Now you can buy gear and support the anti-litter campaign with the awesome slogan.

Have more frequent-flyer miles than you know what to do with? Well, transfer some to me! I've got to get back to the islands! Seriously, if you have more miles than you think you're going to use any time soon, here are some web sites that might be able to help: MileDonor.com: up to 80 charities accepting point donations from 17 different airline programs Points.com: trade in your miles, buy yourself an Iced Mocha Frappicino Grande. Or a new jacket. Mileage Plus: 10,000 United miles = 100 downloads from Sony's music service. Someone ping me when it works with iTMS. [Via the 29 July 2005 edition of The Week, which got it from Real Simple.]

I am quite proud to say I did not watch a single second of the incredibly vapid, colossal waste of time and public airwaves that was Live 8. Rick Moran, on the other hand, did watch it, and gets what Geldof and crew do not:

The idea that “raising awareness” of Africa’s plight will save starving children is absurd. In order to save those children, you don’t have to snap your fingers, what you need is wholesale regime changes in 2 dozen or more countries where governments use starvation as the weapon of choice against rebelious populations. Africa’s problem is not lack of food. It is not a lack of arable land, or water resources, or agricultural know-how (they’ve been farming in Africa since before the Egyptians got themselves organized). At bottom, Africa’s problem is, well, Africans. Embracing the socialist doctrines of the old Soviet Union and Cuba during the 1970’s and 80’s, the grandiose schemes and huge development projects undertaken with some of the $220 billion in western aid that has gone to the continent since the 1960’s proved to be boondoggles of the first magnitude.

Dam building for electricity that nobody needs or can use is just one small example. What isn’t known and probably can never be calculated is the out and out theivery of aid funds by African leaders, their families, their extended families, their cronies, and the western companies who are forced into kickback schemes in order to win contracts with this human daisy chain of graft and corruption.

[...]

Which makes Live 8 about as relevant to helping solve Africa’s problems as the activities of the masked anarchists who are gleefully running around Edinburgh smashing windows and torching automobiles as if to prove the efficacy of corporal punishment denied them when they were children. All something like Live 8 does is alleviate whatever guilt those who organize and participate may be feeling about the problem. Personally, I'm making a difference in Africa, one child at a time. His name is Emmanuel, he lives in Tanzania, and though he is five years older, he shares a birthday with my son. I don't share this to get a pat on the back; I share it to say you don't need a bunch of celebs cavorting on stage, "raising awareness," to personally make a difference. Not to mention that Geldof and crew would never tell you about Compassion, World Vision, the Barnabas Fund, Mercy Ships, or myriad other organizations which have been making a difference for years. How many meals could be provided, through organizations already on the ground, by the multi-carat diamond necklace Madonna was wearing, if she weren't so busy flipping off the world? Angelina Jolie aside, when was the last time any of these spoiled celebrity brats spent time helping in a refugee camp? They are the ones with the supposed influence, and certainly the funds, and the best they can come up with is a concert to "raise awareness"? Let's see Geldof, Madonna, McCartney, and the rest put their money where their mouths are. [A wave of the fin to Jeff for pointing to Rick's post.]

It's that time of the year again, when I pimp my readers for donations to a worthy cause. At the end of this month, my wife and I will be participating in the annual March of Dimes WalkAmerica in Dallas. We've both registered to raise money for the event, so I'm asking for donations, which you can contribute by going to my WalkAmerica web site. Our son, now a healthy 20-month-old toddler, was born 9 weeks premature and spent 6 weeks in the Neonatal ICU. During that time, we witnessed the good things done by the March of Dimes first hand. We’d appreciate any support you can give to this great event. Thanks!