Stats on Giving

From Mint.com's blog. Some interesting stats on giving.


budget planner – Mint.com

December Kiva Loans

If Palestine is a country or not depends entirely on who you ask... so I asked Kiva and found Fatenah, a grocery store owner in the country of Palestine. Thank you Kiva for answering this question and helping me find my first December loan.

Fatenah has increased her business substantially through previous loans and has been able to help her husband start a business of his own, though she is still the main provider for her family of 8. She has requested this loan of $3000 to help her prepare for a busy holiday that is fast approaching.

The second December loan went to Mariam in Tanzania.

Mariam requested one loan of $150 to help her grow her restraunt business. currently $1 is 1,300 Tanzinian shillings... definately taking advantage of exchange rates for this one. Mariam is a single mother of three and works 13 to 16 hours a day.

Lisa Kristine

While exploring wine country over the summer, I ventured into a little photography studio in Sonoma which turned out to be the highlight of my trip (beside the Roche Chardonnay I discovered, of course). Lisa Kristine has made a life for herself by traveling the world and taking the most amazing photographs. I had seen her work before, but only in small doses. Walking into this studio was a much more enveloping experience. I was surrounded on all sides by huge, vibrantly colored images of people and places that I cannot wait to see for myself. She does an amazing job of capturing an image, or a lifestyle which many of us have yet to see, and will probably never fully experience or understand: yet in that image my heart is there... or very badly wants to be there. I love her work, I think she is amazing. So next time you're in Sonoma (or Santa Fe, or Sausalito) check out her gallery (The website is cool... but doesn't compare to being there...).

The Hunger Site

I know I've talked about The Hunger Site before... But just as a friendly reminder; It's so easy to go to the site once a day and click to give a donation to help fight world hunger, fund breast cancer research, promote literacy, or help many other causes. If you want to do more than click, you can brows the stores which are full of free trade items, and items that help local economies, or go to the 'do more' section and pay a midwife's salary for one week ($25) or buy food for families in need (starting at $1). There are so many options and so many amazing resources you can provide for people who do not have the options that we have here. In the spirit of the holidays, lets do a little giving :)

November Kiva Loan

I had been waiting to do November's Kiva loan until I had time to go through and choose one that had a particular draw to it, but then I got email from Kiva about a man who has a stay at home wife who raises his two children. He is requesting a loan for $250 so that he could afford winter clothes for his children. They had grown too much over the summer and he fears they will get sick if they do not have pants and jackets that fit them.

How sad is it that honest, working people can't afford to clothe their children...

Mario Alejandro Meza Nevares - Acuna, Mexico

Breathing Earth

Check out CO2 emissions as well as death and birth rates for every country in the world.

http://www.breathingearth.net/

October Kiva Loan

Today I made my loan for October. To find this one I sorted the fourteen THOUSAND available loans by expiring soon and chose one of the people at the top of the list. Mauricio Martínez García is from El Salvadore and is a single father of sixteen year old twin girls. He chose to open a restraunt many years ago so that he could be available for his girls and is seeking funds to increase his menu options for his customers. Can you imagine being a single parent of twin sixteen year old girls?? drama drama drama :)

What A Relief!

Today I thought I had sad news. A few months ago I lent to a group of women in Pakistan who each had their own means of income. One was a seamstress, one a hair stylist, etc. The reason I had chosen to make a loan to Pakistan was because I had been seeing how many people were being displaced due to the US' presence along the boarders where there were supposed Taliban hide outs. I hate how the 5 o'clock news shows missiles flying overhead and entire towns being blown to smithereens. Um, there are people there. I don't want to sit here eating my bowl of cereal watching people die. But that's another story. Anyway, I was watching and reading these stories about how so many people were being pushed out of their homes and had no where to go. So I did what I could to help keep their economy going by lending to their people. (as we all know by now, government aid rarely actually helps. Giving Pakistan government money would do no good. We need to get money into the hands of the people. Go Kiva for being awesome.)

Today when I logged in, I noticed that this lending team was delinquent on their payments and my heart dropped. Not only could one person in this group not pay, but the rest of the group was not able to come together and cover the shortage? (lending teams support one another. If one person cannot pay, the rest of the team is responsible. Go read Banker to the Poor for further explanation. It's awesome) I wondered what could have happened that would make it impossible to make their payment. Were their homes destroyed? Was business just that bad? I'd rather they feed their families than pay me back... But then I noticed that Kiva's field partner, Asasah, had a 50% delinquency rate and got suspicious. Kiva has a 98% repayment rate, how could this ONE lender have a 50% delinquency rate. So I investigated... and found good news.

The reason for the high delinquency rate is because they are having trouble transferring money out of Pakistan. I know how difficult it can be to move large sums of money in to or out of countries, I can empathize with them. They have the payments from their loanees and as soon as the Bank of Pakistan sorts through the issue, all of the money will be disbursed. So I can sleep well tonight - It is safe to assume that my Pakistani women are safe and sound and prospering in their business.

Whew!!

A Lesson in Ethics

Unicef is an organization that does everything they can to protect children from all kinds of harm, help solve gender inequality issues, and provide an education for children who otherwise would never touch a book, learn to read, or learn to write. They are an amazing organization and have done a lot of good in our world.

(www.guardian.co.uk)

One of the projects that Unicef supported was ending the use of child labor in garment factories in Bangladesh. It's 'child labor'. It's bad right? Of course ending these practices would be a good thing, right? Unicef thought so too, until they learned of the consequences of pushing children out of relatively safe work environments and into a workforce much less friendly.

Garment factory workers are relatively well paid and work reasonable hours which leaves both time and money for children to put themselves through school. Without factory jobs, many children are forced to work as maids who have no time off for attending classes, and who make about half as much as factory workers. Or worse, they work 'off the grid' in unsafe, under paid, sweat shops.

So what did we learn? Imposing morals and practices followed in the US may not work for all countries. Unicef backed this movement to get children out of factories because we would never do that here in the US, but didn't take the time to think about how pushing them out of those jobs would simply push them into others. Their families still need to pay rent, they still need food, and they still need money to fund their own educations. Pushing children out of factory jobs actually ended up doing more harm than good.

See an awesome video on the topic here

Charity:Water has infiltrated Moo.com

Yes, that is right. Charity:Water has infiltrated Moo.com. Charity:Water has been one of my favorite non profits for a long time now, so of course, I am always excited when I find them in other places. The more reach they can get, the better!! Here you can buy a pre designed set of Charity:Water post cards or greeting cards to send to your friends and famiy. With every purchase Moo.com will donate $11 to Charity:Water. You get post cards, they get moolah (haha, I'm so funny...) Also check out Charity:Water's twitter feed for a daily photo of projects they're currently working on.

Postcards $19.99
Buy this on MOO.com

September Kiva!!

Hm... You know my life has gotten boring when all I ever have to talk about is Kiva. :)

So today I made my Kiva loan for September. This one went to a Teth Sopheap in Cambodia who does a little bit of everything. She raises ducks and sells their eggs, raises pigs for slaughter, and cultivates rice crops during the summer. She has a husband who is a motorcycle mechanic and five children, many of whom work for the local water company. Even with all of the work her children and husband do, it still does not bring in enough money to support all of them.

Cambodia is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. Most people there live very much like Teth does in that they work for themselves on multiple different projects to bring in income for their family. This is why I chose to lend to Cambodia this month. They are hard working people, yet still struggle to meet the basic needs that many take for granted. Obtaining an education is nearly impossible for most and rising above poverty is even more difficult.

August Kiva Loan!!

YAY! I've finally made my loan for August. This one went to Bo Sok in Cambodia. Currently Bo Sok works as a caterer, but with five kids, two of which are in school (which is not free in Cambodia...) he can no longer afford his monthly household expenses. So, with the fruit season coming, he intends to open a fruit stand to make up the difference so that his kids can stay in school and everyone can have food. Below is a picture of his wife:

AIDS Walk 2009!!!

(Kelly, Alicia, Vikki)

YES!! The AIDS Walk was this last Sunday. And yes, it was awesome.

Alicia and I started our day bright and early and drove up to the city. Thanks to UCSF’s cooperation, we got cheap parking for the day right across the street from Golden Gate Park. Checking in was a breeze and playing with our rewards for our fundraising was of course a blast.

We had gotten there so early, we had about an hour and a half to wait for the walk to actually start, so we met up with our friend Vikki and chatted, made new friends, watch a rescue attempt of a poor lost mole, and listened to the entertainment from the stage. Next year I hope to secure a place closer to the stage so that I can actually see what is going on up there.

Once the walk started there was a mad dash for the starting line. We tried to hang back a bit so as to not get trampled, and for the most part were successful. Very early on we encountered our first and only protesters. They were quite nice and only held signs warning me that God will judge me. Yes, God will judge me, so you, please don’t. What made it great though were the drag queens partying it up right next to the protesters. Sequins, geisha style makeup, singing and dancing… They were quite hot if I may say so myself.

There was never a dull moment along the walk. There were stopping points along the way where volunteers handed out oranges, popsicles, multigrain bars and other snacks of the like. There were men walking by with their Ipod players propped up on their shoulders as if they were 90s style boom boxes, men (errr… women..) walking in their underwear, men dressed is space man outfits, and my personal favorite, a naked man with face paint and a sign around his mid section advertising nakedclowns.com. I have yet to visit the site… :S…

The AIDS Walk is definitely a must in my next years ‘to do’ plan, only I will make it bigger and better. Yes, that means that all of you are getting an invite to join my team, fundraise, and walk with me! And with California’s current budget situation it will be more necessary than ever. Most of the organizations that this event supports have already lost most of their funding. As San Francisco is one of California’s cities with the highest rates of HIV and AIDS, these services are needed. In total, the AIDS Walk was able to bring in over $3.5 million and Alicia, Vikki, and I were able to raise over $1700 ourselves. Imagine a difference we could make with a bigger team!

And, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who made this possible!!!

Mirror, Skull, and Chair

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, artists used to create a type of painting called a 'vanitas'. Yes, it sounds like 'vanity' because it means 'vanity'. In these paintings were symbols of a lustrous life. Books to show that the subject had knowledge, pearls, money, and jewels to show that they were wealthy, mirrors to show that they were a bit narcissistic... And a skull to remind us that death is unavoidable. Then in the background would be a painting of the final judgement. Jesus doesn't care how much money you had, or how beautiful you were. You'd have better been a good person as well, or you're not getting though those big pearly gates.

Through the years, the religious symbols of these paintings have been made much more subtle, or at times non existent as is in the following example.

'Mirror, Skull, and Chair", finished in 1962, Oil on Canvas by Paul Wonner

By far the most appealing vanitas I've seen yet. Rather than using deep, dramatic colors, Wonner chose to use softer colors to invite us in, and allows the light to fill the room rather than focus on one focal point coming from above (as the earlier versions have to symbolize the presence of God). Vanity is still present with the use of a mirror, and a palette of makeup next to the skull, yet the more simple use of these symbols lets the painting be understood by a wider audience. It is not riches and excessive knowledge that Wonner wants us to see within ourselves, but the obsession with beauty. Makeup and a mirror to adorn ourselves, with a little pink flower; beauty.

Wonner was an impressionistic painter, yet this painting is much closer to realistic than most of his other works. You can see, even in a photograph of the painting, that the brush strokes are heavy and deliberate, yet the entire painting comes together as a whole without the need for much questioning. Ok, I'll admit, I'm guessing that the palette on the table is makeup, however given the other visual ques, I think it's a fair guess. We can see through the mirror that the sky is blue, and the room is flooded with light. The skull is peaceful looking as opposed to jagged and piercing as the skulls in the more traditional vanitas paintings are, and the door in the background is ajar as if to tell is that all are welcome here. In death comes judgement, we cannot escape this no matter how beautiful we are, yet it might not be so bad after all.

Charity: Water

Charity Water has been doing some amazing photos of the day. This is Caroline in Uganda. Thanks to charity: water, her town now has a new well providing clean water to the town's people. What an amazing smile she has.

Kiva Loan #5!!

Today marks the first day of a new month... which means I get to lend again!!! I went out to kiva.org and was thrilled that there were four loans available in the health sector. After much deliberation I chose to lend to Birtudes who operates an herbal medicine business from her home in the Dominican Republic. I liked her because she sells natural vitamins, teas, and clay rubs... and I've been reading about the benefits that green tea has on our health. :)

Below is a picture of Birtudes with her group members.

Lead in my Purse?

The Center for Environmental Health just released a new study today. They looked at the lead contents of purses being sold in the United States, and found that some of them had 90 times higher lead content than is legal under the federal laws. Many states have more strict laws than that, so imagine how far over they are in those states...

Lead can be found in both the vinyl (any faux leather product) as well as dyes and paints. This means that canvas bags are not safe either!

Lead poisoning has been attributed to lower cognitive ability than would be otherwise and learning disorders. (hm, is our obsession with cheap fashion responsible for the growing numbers of learning disorder diagnosis's in the U.S.?)

Below is a list of the retailers selling the contaminated purses, and a list of the brands that are contaminated.

The retailers found selling bags that contain high levels of lead include:
Kohl's
Target
Macy's
JCPenney
H&M
Wal-Mart
Aldos
Ross
Forever 21
New York and Co.
Ashley Stewart
5-7-9
Bakers Shoes
Sears
DSW
Anchor Blue
Bloomingdale's
Express
French Connection
Lane Bryant
Pacsun
Sanrio
Tumi
United Colors of Benetton
Victoria's Secret

The brands of bags found that contain high levels of lead include:
Fluff
Aldo US
Ashley Stewart
Urban Brands (Ashley Stewart)
Bakers
Chinese Laundry
Lulu NYC
Forever 21
Relic
Haddad Accessories
H&M
St. John's Bay
Worthington
Nine & Co.
Nine West
Apt. 9
Daisy Fuentes
Liz & Co. (by Liz Claiborne)
Dana Buchman (by Liz Claiborne)
Roxy (by Quicksilver, Inc.)
Rosetti
Cul-de-sac (Sears)
Steve Madden
Xhiliration (Target house brand)
Urban Expressions
No Boundaries (Wal-Mart house brand)
Fossil

All of the information here was found on the CEH website, and Wikipedia (which IS a source!!)

Kiva Stats

Today I learned where the stats to my Kiva lending practices can be found. This just gives me an overview of who I've been loaning to, and what sectors they belong to. So far, my four loans have gone to four different countries. Three of them to women, and 2 of them to the health sector. I'm thinking I want to focus my efforts in the health and education sectors because health and education are world wide issues that I tend to get behind quite easily. However, if someone in retail or food services pulls on my heart strings just the right way, I'll of course lend to them :)


Gender
Male 25.0%
Female 75.0%

Country
Nigeria 25.0%
Pakistan 25.0%
Togo 25.0%
United States 25.0%

Sector
Construction 25.0%
Retail 25.0%
Health 50.0%

Kiva Payments

Today marks an exciting day in my lending practices at Kiva. I got my first payments back!! I'm so excited to have $3.00 in credit to apply towards July's loan. Plus I believe I have one more payment coming July 1 so I should have a little over $3 to put towards my next loan. Eventually I hope to have enough people paying me back that it will be a self funded endevour, and will only cost me the 15% donation to Kiva each month. Of course, this is going to take a bout two years to reach given my current rate of lending. Maybe I'll have to bump it up to two loans per month :) I know I've already done two this month, but I was so excited today when I found a loan to give in the 'health' sector. Those seem to be few and far in between so I try to catch them when I can. Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for her) this loan won't be available come July, but hopefully there will be more!

Kiva Launches in the US

Today marks a huge day in the world of micro lending. Kiva has opened up residents of both New York and California to receive micro loans. So many small business owners would love to expand, but can't because they cant get the funding necessary to do so. Thanks to Kiva, now there is a way. By the time I got out to Kiva.org today the lending was well underway! According to Kiva's twitter feed, today 866 loans have been made to US borrowers totaling $29,700. It is amazing to see how generous people can be when in our daily lives we don't see these things in the people around us. Perhaps that is just people being modest and not bragging about their philanthropic ventures. But no matter, every now and then I come across some fact or figure that suggests that there is more good in the world than I would have previously thought.

Anyway...

As I have already made my Kiva loan for the month, I had no intentions to actually make a loan until I started looking at who was out there. I'd estimate that half of who I looked at were people in the Bay Area. Many of them are fundraising for money to grow their child care businesses, which I absolutely support. Decent child care is so difficult for so many people to find and afford that allowing these small businesses to grow only seems like the right thing to do. However, the one person who struck a cord with me was a woman named Serena. She lives in Mountain View, she attends SJSU, and she teaches yoga. I love yoga. She needed a micro loan to finish her schooling to get her certification so that she can expand her services to include more expansive personal fitness training. So she got my second loan for the month. I may or may not have shed a tear. To impact someones life who lives half way around the world is a wonderful thing to do, and such a small amount of money can make a huge difference. Yet to help someone who lives in my own back yard improve herself and the community that we share is an entirely different experience.

Here is a short video (8 minutes) that does a great job describing the purpose and mission of Kiva. It's a little old (pre US launch) but entirely relevant in every way.

Aids Walk

For 22 years, AIDS Walk San Francisco has evoked a powerful outpouring of public support. This year, please join me in making a meaningful difference in the lives of people struggling with HIV and AIDS. This is my first year participating in AIDS Walk San Francisco and I have set a goal to raise $1000!

In this year when clients need so much and resources are tighter, I am asking you to reach deeply into your heart and consider making a gift to help cover for those who are unable to give this year. I am set on surpassing my goal this year—Please sponsor me today by clicking the link below to visit my AIDS Walk fundraising Web page! The website is secure and all donations are 100% tax deductible.

If you prefer to write a check donation, please make it out to “AIDS Walk San Francisco” and mail it the address below—including my name along with the check. Be sure to let me know that you have made the donation so I can properly thank you for your support! Mailing address: AIDS Walk San Francisco, P.O. Box 193920, San Francisco, CA 94119-3920
The fight against AIDS is not over!

Did you know…
• Every 9 ½ minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV?

• Nationally, 1 out of every 5 people infected with HIV don’t know it?

• There are over 25,000 people currently living with HIV in San Francisco?

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation has set new, bold and aggressive to improve HIV prevention in the Bay Area and help the rest of the country—and the world—learn from their example. The Foundation’s comprehensive array of services, advocacy and outreach ensure that individuals get tested, know how to prevent infection, and that HIV-positive people receive the treatment they need.

The AIDS Walk is our community’s single most powerful and enduring response to the AIDS epidemic. Thank you in advance for being as generous as you can and for joining me in this important cause!

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support AIDS Walk San Francisco.

Click Here to Donate

Social Vibe

Social Vibe is another site where you log in and complete tasks to earn donations for your charity.  When you log in for the first time, you'll choose a sponsor (mine is colgate today) and choose a charity (mine is Charity Water) and as you earn points, your charity will donate to your cause.

One way to earn points is to create a badge and post it on a blog, you facebook or myspace, and every time it is viewed, your sponsor for that badge will donate.  Here I have Bebe sponsoring me :)

Breast Cancer

My mom is a survivor:  I hope all of you will be too.  Breast cancer rates are declining, but that doesn't mean we can stop thinking about it and doing what we can to help our own chances of not being diagnosed, and to help those who already have been.  

A few facts about Breast Cancer:

(source)

--> One in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer

--> More than one in for cancers in women is breast cancer - right behind skin cancer. 

--> 5-10% of breast cancer incidences are due to a gene mutation inherited by one's parents. 90% of cases are caused by other factors such as aging, hormone therapy, or hormones in the foods that we eat. 

--> There are 2.5 million survivors in the United States

--> 40480 women were expected to die of breast cancer in 2008. Actual numbers are still unavailable.  

A few ways to reduce your risk:  

(source)

-->  Avoid synthetic hormones (hormone replacement therapy, fertility drugs, birth control pills, and hormones in meat, eggs and dairy)

-->  Drink purified water as it cleanses your kidneys and lymphatic system which helps your immune system function properly.

-->  reduce alcohol, coffee, chocolate (anything with caffeine...) consumption.  

-->  Reduce stress!!  Meditate, sleep well, practice yoga... do whatever makes you feel good.

-->  Rather than a mammogram, try Thermography.  39% more effective sans the radiation.    

What you can do:

-->  Support Susan G. Komen

-->  Remember my blog on The Hunger Site?  Do it.  

-->  Check out Yoga Bear.  Donate and pass it along.

-->  Spread the word.  Awareness is important to both the prevention of new cases, and finding a cure.   

Let Freedom RING!!

To all of us Californians:

We all know that prop 8 has caused quite a commotion, and a lot of people have opinions that differ from others'. But for those of you who voted 'no' (or at least intended to had you voted...) check this out. It's a ring to show your support for gay marriage. How awesome is that. I know the symbolism is a bit obvious, but I stand my ground. It's awesome :)

Lip Gloss with a Moisturizer? Yes Please!

This one's for the girls out there...

We are always on a quest for something. Be it the perfect jeans, perfect hair stylist, perfect dinner spot, or perfect lip gloss. No matter what we find, we know that somewhere out there there must be something better. Well, let me tell you, the search for the perfect lip gloss is over.

Meet Korres.

100% natural, 100% fabulous.

This 'Lip Butter' is full of moisturizers making it perfect during the dry-lip-season as well as when we want just a tad bit of color. And, at $9 a pot I am happy to say that it is definitely competing with similar, yet unnatural and twice the price, moisturizer/gloss combos I've tried.

Let me emphasize: THIS GLOSS HAS MOISTURIZERS THAT WORK!!!

I'm happy :)

The Hunger Site

This is by far the easiest thing anyone can do to help.

1. Go to The Hunger Site

2. Across the top there are tabs that read: "Hunger", "Breast Cancer", "Child Health", "Literacy", "Rainforest" and "Animal Rescue". Click one.

3. Towards the top there is a button that says "Click Here - It's Free". Click it. It's free.

And just like that, you have given to you charity of choice. You can click each tab once a day.

If you want to give more you can buy jewelry, clothes, and all kinds of little trinkets and a portion of your purchase will go towards your charity of choice.

If you want to give even more than that check out 'Gifts that Give More' for options like 'Clean Child Birth Kits'.

Click around some more - you'll find all kinds of information and petitions you can sign.

The Hunger Site = AWESOME

Mochaclub.org

Mocha Club makes giving something to those who need it easy.  Sign up here.  have an amount of money automatically charged to your credit card every month.  And that's it.  

They recommend a donation of $7 per month - the cost of two mochas, but you can choose to give more or less.  

You can choose the type of work you'd like to contribute to.  Be it Aids/HIV, Orphans, Genocide ...

The only catch is that you have to commit to at least three months of donations to cover their set up costs.  

And they make a point to keep their overhead low which means more of what you give actually makes a difference in Africa.  

Random facts from the site:

$7 can

Feed one person for one month.  

Educate two school kids for one term.

Save one persons life from malaria 

Provide clean water to seven Africans for one year.  

Be Junk Mail Free!!!

Send a letter asking to be removed from all distribution lists to:

Mail Preference Service

Direct Marketing Association

PO Box 643

Carmel, NY 15012-0643

Be sure to include your mailing address in the body of the letter.  It will take up to six months to be completely removed from all of the lists held by this company (over 75% of the market share...) so be patient... but like mom always said: 'patience is a virtue'. 

And for those of you renters... When you fill out your change of address with the post office, DMA will follow you to your new address.  It may take some time for them to get their systems updated, but rest assured; your request will be honored.  

Banker to the Poor - Muhammad Yunus

The Grameen Bank started as an experiment in a small village in Bangladesh and grew into a world wide operation with many many success stories, and only a few set backs. As an economics professor, Yunus knew only of poverty on a massive scale, and of the billions of dollars needed to fix this issue. A day trip out into his own community made him realize how little an individual person needed to bring themselves and their entire family out of poverty. He made his first loan out of his own pocket to a woman who made bamboo stools. She needed $27 to get out from under her money lenders and bring her stools to the open market herself. And thus began the Grameen Bank.

The Grameen Bank now has hundreds of branches (including in the UNITED STATES) and has fostered many copy cat banks around the world. The end of this book left with his making a goal to reach 100 million of the poorest families around the world by 2005. I'm sure the next book on my reading list (The Poor Always Pay Back - The Grameen II Story) will tell me that he did reach his goal :)

By focusing on lending to women, he was able to improve the lives of entire families, and consequently, entire communities. Birth rates fell for Grameen member families, their children went to school, and they didn't starve or resort to begging. Yunus along with the Grameen Bank was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to promote social and economic well being among the poor.

And a quick plug, of course... http://www.kiva.org/ to make a difference and help to alleviate poverty around the world.

Campus Singnage

The latest random signage around campus aimed to raise awareness... I think.  I get that they're unhappy that the budget has been cut, but wouldn't the right time to be protesting have been when something could have been done about the budget?  remember... when state congress was 90 days late ....

Yes, this is the first year in history when the CSU system will deny eligible graduating seniors a place in any school

Yes, tuition is going up.  At an average rate of 17% over the last many many years.  This is to be expected.  CSU's haven't raised tuition in the last three years, we're due for an increase with or without budget cuts.

Yes, tuition is going up - but teachers are not being laid off.  Instructors who are here on a year to year contract are not having their contracts renewed... but that is a risk one takes when accepting a contract position - that their contract may not be renewed.

ok, this one does just suck.

Three hundred dollars seems reasonable to me...  It's not a HUGE amount of money that one CANT  come up with, yet enough that when multiplied by the 30,000 students that they have at the school...  I Think that in order to keep are campus as clean and orderly as it is that seems like a reasonable request given the current circumstances.  

My Runs

These are my two runs with my Nike Sport Kit (which I still think needs a better name...).  As you can see, I have A LOT of work to do :) 

How Rich Are You?

I work part time. I consider myself to be a 'starving student'. My income still puts me in the top 11% of wage earners in the world. I am the 669,642,941 richest person on earth. There are over 6.7 BILLION people on earth.

I'm feeling a little guilty for spending $350 on software (most of which I probably won't ever *need*). There are so many better places my money could be going right now...

Ending the worlds poverty can solve so many problems. We throw our donations at organizations that attempt to get a pair of shoes on every young one who needs them, or organizations that help to give educations to girls in developing countries. We don't stopp and think that if they were not barely able to feed themselves, they would be able to afford a pair of shoes for their kids and be absolutely willing to send their kids to school. Once a higher percentage of people is educated, they can grow their own economy and solve their people's problems on their own. We're trying to fix the outward symptoms of an underlying problem.

A snippet from the Global Rich List:

$8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras to grow and sell fruit at their local market.

$30 could buy you an ER DVD Boxset OR a First Aid kit for a village in Haiti.

$73 could buy you a new mobile phone OR a new mobile health clinic to care for AIDS orphans in Uganda.

$2400 could buy you a second generation High Definition TV OR schooling for an entire generation of school children in an Angolan village.

Change the world? Okay.

I just finished reading Leaving Microsoft to Change the World (It's on sale right now ;) by John Wood. Whoa. Rarely do I find a book that I cannot put down (I would like to apologize to anyone I've bumped into... literally... between classes over the last few days). John left a very high up position at Microsoft after an enlightening trip to Nepal in which he discovered the state of the education system there. Imagine had your school had classes with three or more grades squished into one small room and a library consisting of a handful of trashy romance novels that tourists had left behind (um, actually I know Calaveras County still many schools in this condition... I did a book drive back in high school for an elementary school way out in the hills that had a single shelf of books for their k-6 school... but that's beside the point :)) In just a few years, John was able to found, and make successful, Room to Read - a non profit whose sole purpose is to build schools and libraries in developing countries. To date they have built over 7000 libraries. It's difficult to comprehend that $250 can fund a girls education for an entire year (including a backpack and a new pair of shoes), and a mere eight to ten thousand dollars can build an entire school or library. It's seems like such a small number, we should be able to do more to improve the lives of those who are in need of basic resources like a public library or a classroom in which every student has a chair to sit in.

Seasteading

Today I went to a lecture given by Patri Friedman (grandson of Milton Friedman...) on Seasteading.  He intends to build islands out in the middle of the ocean and create unique governments created by the people, for the people (haha, couldn't help it).  His issue with the world today is that there is no chance of a new government emerging anywhere without millions of people dying.  So, to begin a new government he is going to build platforms out in the middle of the ocean, as that is the only unclaimed earth left, and let the people who live there design their own rules to live by.  He envisions people being able to move from one island to the next until they find an island that most closely matches their own moral/ ethical belief system and choose to stay, (to avoid the issues of emigration and immigration that are present in our land owning governments, people having the right to come and go as they please is his only requirement for these emerging governents).  My most poignant concern - is this not going to enforce racism/ prejudices that are prevalent in already existing countries and governments, but not so blatantly separated from one another?  I can imagine a liberal island and a conservative island going through a few rough patches...  Or the Mac island vs. the PC island...  

Kiva.org

Ok, I know I tend to do a lot of talking about making the world a better place, but I understand that I am of limited knowledge and resources and can only do so much when it comes to these things. Which is why Kiva is so great. With $25 anyone with either a credit card or a paypal account and improve the life of someone in a developing country by helping them build their business, or make their business run more smoothly.

I first learned about Kiva two years ago. I would drive from SF all the way down to Mountain View at least once a week, and on every drive I saw the same billboard for Kiva.org and was intrigued. Then, when friends started talking about it I was hooked on the idea. Don't ask me why it's taken me so long *actually* get involved; but I have. Today I made my first micro loan to a man in Togo who sells cement to other entrepreneurs and carpenters. His business has grown and he needs some money up front to place his next order to keep up with the demand. I chose to loan to this man in particular because he was not only growing a business for himself, but because his business is allowing others to maintain their own businesses as well. His providing this product to the community gives income to others which grows the community that much more.

And with that, I ask that everyone at least have a quick looksee :) http://www.kiva.org/