something you can do

there are so many websites and organizations out there to which you can donate to benefit the victims of the tsunami. i wish i was educated enough to know which ones are the best, but alas, i am not. i do know that doctors without borders is an excellent organization, and are on the scene. you can donate to them here.

i can also steal a list of organizations from my friend zaypop. it can be found here.

i'll cut and paste them as well.

ColomboPage
Sri Lankan Paper
www.colombopage.com

American Jewish World Service
45 West 36th Street
New York, NY 10018-7904
800-889-7146
www.ajws.org

American Red Cross
International Response Fund
PO Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
800-435-7669
www.redcross.org

CARE USA
151 Ellis Street NE
Atlanta, GA 30303
800-422-7385
www.careusa.org

Catholic Relief Services
PO Box 17090
Baltimore, MD 21203-7090
800-736-3467
www.catholicrelief.org

Direct Relief International
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
805-964-4767
www.directrelief.org

International Medical Corps
11500 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 506
Los Angeles, CA 90064
800-481-4462
www.imcworldwide.org

Oxfam America
26 West Street
Boston, MA 02111-1206
800-776-9326
www.oxfamamerica.org

Mercy Corps
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208
888-256-1900
www.mercycorps.org

Operation USA
8320 Melrose Avenue, Ste. 200
Los Angles, CA 90069
800-678-7255
www.opusa.org

speechless

i really have nothing to say. this is so horrific.

it's kinda weird to not be able to blame the bush administration for this one...

117,000 lives lost as of this posting.

the world is about to learn more than it ever wanted to know about microbiology.

a before-and-after picture of the shoreline of banda aceh in indonesia:

i have been thinking about just how goddamn lucky i am. this sure puts the bush victory into perspective, doesn't it.

why can't we have a do-over?

yushchenko claims win in election do-over

i can't believe the former soviets have a better grasp on democracy than we do...

still, pretty cool news.

quote of the day

you all must listen to this now

the beatles + the beastie boys = the beastles!

it's fucking awesome.


link via fiat lux

a special kind of christmas present

ok, this is just scary

The first cloned-to-order pet sold in the United States is named Little Nicky, a 9-week-old kitten delivered to a Texas woman saddened by the loss of a cat she had owned for 17 years.

The kitten cost its owner $50,000 and was cloned from a beloved cat, named Nicky, that died last year. Nicky’s owner banked the cat’s DNA, which was used to create the clone.

the kitten IS pretty adorable (what kittens are not?) but the whole cloning your dead cat thing is a little bit disturbing.

and she can't be THAT sad if she has $50K to blow!

weekly horoscope

SCORPIO

A few years ago East Timor was described as an "unimaginable, apocalyptic ruin" by UN peacekeepers. More than 200,000 people had died during a 25-year struggle to separate from Indonesia. But after finally gaining its independence, the new nation is now prospering in peace. With this as your inspiration, Scorpio, identify the most intractable and painful problem in your life. Now imagine that in the next ten months, you will transform it as dramatically as the people of East Timor did theirs.

quote of the day

more funny stuff from our commander in chief

"Beneath that rough and gruff, no-nonsense demeanor is a good human being who cares deeply about the military and deeply about the grief that war causes."
PRESIDENT BUSH, on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

what kind of neo-pagan are you?

Take the quiz: "Neo-Pagan Type Identifier - Redux"


Wiccan

You believe in the existence of deity, as a god or goddess, or a duality of the two depending upon tradition, you work with elementals and other natural spiritual beings and draw your practice from various cultural beliefs. Your interests probably include parapsychology, magic(k) , witchcraft, community, and the occult or unseen world. Your practice may include meditation, divination, energy working, spell-crafting, and formal ritual work.

moblogging

so i was just in nyc and took a bunch of pics with my camera phone (since my digital camera died). they came out kinda weird, but i like the way they look. so i'm going to make you look at them too.

oh, this is so good

Bush won't "negotiate with himself"

In Washington, there are plenty of ways to say "no comment," but President George W. Bush offered his own formulation, after he refused to "negotiate with myself in public."

Asked to explain one facet of his Social Security policy, Bush agreed but said, "I will try to explain how without negotiating with myself. It's a very tricky way to get me to play my cards. I understand that."

the continuing political "humor" that we can expect to be treated to over the next 4 years is definitely a silver lining.

bush expresses brilliance and consistency yet again

i love this headline:

Bush: Iraq Bombers 'Are Having an Effect'

"And so the American people are taking a look at Iraq and wondering whether the Iraqis are eventually going to be able to fight off these bombers and killers," Bush said.

which bombers and killers is he referring to, i wonder.

and here's a great "blooper":

He said he understands why Americans have doubts about Iraq's ability. "They're looking on your TV screen and seeing indiscriminate bombings, where thousands of innocent — or hundreds of innocent Iraqis are getting killed ..."

i mean... only a few... and they were mostly bad eggs anyway... um, yeah.

Bush said he favored diplomatic approaches — rather than regime changes — in Iran and North Korea, two nations that the United States have troubling nuclear programs. He said diplomacy "must be the first choice, always the first choice of an administration trying to solve an issue of ... nuclear armament."

sigh. the blatant hypocrisy makes me tired... so very, very tired...

horoscope for the week

scorpio

This year the Boston Red Sox won baseball's World Series for the first time in 86 years. The team thereby dispelled "The Curse of the Bambino," which had plagued the franchise since it traded away Hall of Famer Babe "Bambino" Ruth in 1918. Of the 25 players on the Red Sox roster in 2004, five were Scorpios and five were Geminis. The Scorpios included four premier talents who were instrumental in breaking the curse: Johnny Damon, David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, and Pedro Martinez. I believe this vignette foreshadows your fate in 2005, Scorpio. You too will banish a jinx that has burdened you for far too long. And Geminis (like Boston's star Manny Ramirez) may be valuable allies. Here's a symbolic holiday gift you might consider buying yourself: a Boston Red Sox good luck charm.

of course, the sox victory was not good luck for kerry the way i thought it would be... so i dont know if i trust this horoscope...

although i can think of several jinxes i would LOVE to banish... hmm, we'll see...

quote of the day

scary


"It is difficult for me to conceive of how a small country like Canada could meet the prescription drug needs of approximately 280 million Americans without putting our own supply at serious risk. Canada cannot be the drugstore of the United States."
- UJJAL DOSANJH, Canada's health minister.

vote... for F911

i received an email from michael moore today (i'm on his mailing list). fahrenheit 911 has been nominated by the people's choice awards as the "favorite film of the year." you can vote for it (or any other movie) here. it's kind of silly, but as moore says:

...the People's Choice this year, along with a Spiderman superhero and a lovable green ogre, is a film that apparently continues to resonate throughout the country. The truth about Iraq, Bush, terror and fear. The election has not altered or made irrelevant, unfortunately, a single one of these issues. That they (and the film that dealt with these issues) are still at the forefront of the majority of the public's minds should give serious pause to Mr. Bush as he brags about a nonexistent "mandate" and begins to spend his "political capital."

so go on, click here!

here is the full text of the email:

December 8, 2004

Dear Friends,

May I take a break from our post-election despair to share with you a little piece of happy/silly/cool news?

"Fahrenheit 9/11" has been nominated by the People's Choice Awards as the American public's "Favorite Film of the Year." The five nominees were chosen from a poll of thousands of Americans in mid-to-late November. The other nominees for best film are "Spiderman 2," "The Incredibles," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (with Jim Carrey), and "Shrek 2." It is the first time ever a documentary has been nominated for best film by the People's Choice Awards.

The People's Choice Awards are considered, among all the awards shows, to be the one which most accurately reflects the "mainstream" public opinion in the United States.

OK, now, here's the best part: YOU get to vote! Online. Now. Just go to http://www.pcavote.com/voting/film/f01.shtml, click on the little circle next to "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the "Favorite Movie" category and press the "vote" button. Voting is going on now and continues only through this coming Monday, December 13, at 3:00pm ET, so send an e-mail to your friends and let them know they can vote, too. Winners will accept their awards live on CBS on January 9.

Now, normally I wouldn't make a very big deal out of something like this. It's nice and I'm honored, but it's not exactly the number one priority on any of our minds these days. In fact, when we found out we were nominated over a week ago, I didn't even think to tell you about it or put it up on our website.

But then a group of top Republicans took out a full page ad in USA Today (and placed a similar one in the Hollywood trade magazine, Variety) proclaiming that "An election is over, but a war of ideas continues." The point of the ad was to say that while they, as right wing conservatives, were proud of getting rid of Kerry, there was still one more nuisance running around loose they had to deal with -- me! They also issued a not-so-subtle threat to the Academy Awards voters that, in essence, said don't even THINK about nominating "Fahrenheit 9/11" for Best Picture. And Bill O'Reilly recently bellowed that if the Oscars recognize my work this year, Middle America will boycott Hollywood.

Oops. I guess he spoke too soon. Because now along comes Middle America's favorite awards show, the People's Choice, and the People's Choice this year, along with a Spiderman superhero and a lovable green ogre, is a film that apparently continues to resonate throughout the country. The truth about Iraq, Bush, terror and fear. The election has not altered or made irrelevant, unfortunately, a single one of these issues. That they (and the film that dealt with these issues) are still at the forefront of the majority of the public's minds should give serious pause to Mr. Bush as he brags about a nonexistent "mandate" and begins to spend his "political capital."

He may have been (barely) the people's choice on November 2 (Ohio recount excluded), but now the people get to vote again, this time for a movie. It's about the best we can do right now, and, trust me, it won't be long before we start the real work we need to do to get our country back.

Again, go to http://www.pcavote.com/voting/film/f01.shtml if you want to vote for our film. I promise, if we win, to give a nice and polite speech.

Yours,

Michael Moore
http://michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

another weirdly accurate horoscope

from sfgate

Scorpio

You’re the one who’s being less than honest now. Admittedly you have to be, but it’s no excuse to question others relentlessly.

horoscope

scorpio

December 01, 2004

After weeks of working at your top speed and putting your best efforts into what you're doing, the higher-ups in charge are finally sitting up and taking notice. Prepare to receive your appreciation.

i have been interviewing for jobs for weeks now, and today i was offered the one i wanted the most, one where i had to impress a bunch of "higher-ups," vps and such.

yay.