Happy 2015!

Delightful Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has a great message about optimism and the conscious resolution to do some good this year to make the world a better place:

Friday Fun Video: Foo Fighters and the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

The rather whimsical effort to raise awareness of and research funding for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) has produced some very watchable videos on its way to raising some $15 million so far, but I think the Foo Fighters' spoof of a classic horror flick is my favorite.  Well done, people.



Carrie On.

"The Overseas Selfie": Narcissism and Global Voluntourism

Not surprised.  A blurb:

Voluntourism is ultimately about the fulfillment of the volunteers themselves, not necessarily what they bring to the communities they visit.  In fact, medical volunteerism often breaks down existing local health systems.  In Ghana, I realized that local people weren’t purchasing health insurance, since they knew there would be free foreign health care and medications available every few months.  This left them vulnerable in the intervening times, not to mention when the organization would leave the community.

Good Intentions: Philanthropy and Microfinance

Good intentions don't always yield good results: "Your help is hurting" considers handouts versus investment and training.  You may recall this interview with Kenyan economist James Shikwati.

Ties That Bind: the Czech Republic and West, Texas

Here's a nice story of people helping people in the aftermath of the awful explosion in the little town of West, Texas.

Operation Christmas Drop

Now here's a heartwarming tale.  For some kids in Micronesia, Santa wears a flight suit:

Forgotten History: the Philanthropist and the Queen

Interesting stuff here:

She is regarded as the ancient world’s equivalent to the Mona Lisa and this weekend the 3,400–year old bust of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti will be the centrepiece of a grand exhibition in Berlin’s Neues Museum, celebrating her discovery by German archaeologists exactly a century ago.

The delicately featured and priceless bust of the wife of the ancient Egyptian Sun King Akhenaten has been one of the highlights of Berlin’s museum collection since it was first put on display in the city in 1923.

It was unearthed by the famous German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, at Amarna in 1912. He became a household name in Germany but few know the story of the wealthy Jewish patron and philanthropist who not only funded the excavation work that led to the bust’s discovery but also donated Nefertiti and scores of other ancient Egyptian artefacts he owned to Berlin’s museums. Organisers of the centenary celebrations are hoping to change that.

Yes, please meet James Simon, who was written out of the history books after the rise of the Nazis in 1933.

Do Something Useful: the Red Cross's Hurricane Relief

The thought finally occurred to me as I was watching the news that a lot of folks are much worse off than I am (as I'm sitting here with power and water and Internet) and that maybe I should do something, anything other than be mutely horrified at what I'm seeing.  Please to donate to the Red Cross's massive effort.  It's easy, it's fast, and you can do it with that smartphone that's already glued to your hands anyway: you can text the word "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.  Take a look at what the Red Cross has been doing for hurricane relief:

More than 3,200 people spent the night in 112 Red Cross shelters in nine states – New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Massachusetts. The number of people going to shelters is expected to grow as the storm comes ashore. 

The Red Cross has deployed more than 1,300 disaster workers to the region from all over the country to help those affected by the storm. As many as 160 emergency vehicles are ready to respond when it is safe to do so, and more than 230,000 ready-to-eat meals have been sent into the area.

The 2012 Turing Award

The "Nobel Prize of Computer Science," this year's Turing Award goes to UCLA professor Judea Pearl with the citation "For fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence through the development of a calculus for probabilistic and causal reasoning." 

Kudos, sir!  Aside from his outstanding academic work, Professor Pearl is also the father of Daniel Pearl, and he intends to donate a part of the Turing Prize money to the Daniel Pearl Foundation.

Thoughts on Livestrong

Read this, please.  If you are interested, Livestrong's website is here.  You know, you can slam Lance himself all you want, but his founding Livestrong was a big and big-hearted act of philanthropy, and that remains true.

Awesome: Doing It Right

Christian Bale went to the hospital to visit victims of the Aurora theater shooting.  

The Oatmeal/Scumbag Lawyer Saga Reaches Glorious Apogee

The Oatmeal, after dealing with this entire mess, is even more hilarious in triumph. Kudos, sir, KUDOS.  He even leaves us with a moral of the story spelled out for your viewing pleasure: "Philanthropy > Douchebaggery."  Indeed.  Make that "Philanthropy with a Sense of Humor"!

The Oatmeal Saga Continues

The end of Operation BearLove Good, Cancer Bad has turned out not to be the end of cartoonist Matt "the Oatmeal" Inman's ongoing hassle with Charles Carreon, the most annoying lawyer ever and today's pick for "dirtbag dujour."  Here's a tale of two legal actions. 

The Oatmeal and the End of Operation BearLove Good, Cancer Bad

Here's the latest, fellow Oatmeal fans!  (Need the background?)