Procter is also traveling incognito in the American Express Member’s Project, a Web-based initiative that encourages people to submit ideas for solving a societal problem. . . . Mr. Allgood entered the science and theory behind the Children’s Safe Drinking Water program. But he said that the Member Project’s rules precluded him from naming it, or mentioning Pur or Procter.
And here's a second NYT article: P.& G. Link in Amex Contest Raises Questions of Fairness. Tomato Nation calls P&G's involvement "hinky".
So that's it, then! If you have an American Express card, go vote for DonorsChoose right now! Then tell everyone you know! Ishbadiddle commands you!
| Education | American Express | Members Project | Philanthropy | Charity |
Cinematographer László Kovács is dead. Mr. Kovács shot some great pictures, as well as some lousy ones. But I'll most remember him for the reason I adopted his name, which was his name-only (but apparently coincidental) appearance in A Bout de souffle as Jean-Paul Belmondo’s nom de gangster.
| Hungary | Cinematography | Visual Language |
DonorsChoose.org is up for a prize from American Express, which will deliver up to $5M to the charity that gets the most votes from cardmembers. DonorsChoose has made the semifinals, and this round of voting will narrow the field from 25 down to 5 organizations.
To help win $5M for kids, go here to vote -- if you need instructions you can get them here . You can vote once per round, and the semifinal round lasts until Sunday July 22nd. There are lots of great projects, and I would urge you to vote for the one that speaks to you; American Express will give $1 for every cardmember who votes.
DonorsChoose is a nonprofit organization that provides educational resources for public school classrooms. Donors can search through our website among the thousands of requests made by teachers for classroom supplies, art stuff, sports equipment, technology, books, etc. Once they find the one that speaks to them, they choose which project to fund with their donation, in whole or in part. DonorsChoose buys the materials and ships them directly to the classroom, and donors receive a thank you package of letters from the students and photographs of the project.
Thanks for voting today!
| Members Project | American Express | Education | Philanthropy | Charity |
"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."
Via 43 Folders
| Incompetence |
Remember last month when DonorsChoose was up for the American Express Members Project? Well, we made the Top 50! Which means it's time to go back and vote! You can help put $1 million dollars (or more!) into the public schools.
This is the quarter-final round, which means that even if you voted before, you get to vote again. The top 25 will advance to the semi-finals. Here is a PDF with instructions on how to register and vote if you have an American Express card. You can vote on one project per voting elimination round, and this round ends on July 15th.
Thanks for your help!
Update: DonorsChoose has made the top 25! The semifinal round lasts until Sunday July 22nd. Please vote today!
Update: Frank suggested I say what DonorsChoose is for those of you who don't know me directly. DonorsChoose is a nonprofit organization that provides educational resources for public school classrooms. Donors can search through our website among the thousands of requests made by teachers for classroom supplies, art stuff, sports equipment, technology, books, etc. Once they find the one that speaks to them, they choose which project to fund with their donation. DonorsChoose buys the materials and ships them directly to the classroom, and donors receive a thank you package of letters from the students and photographs of the project.
Update 2: Thanks to pesky', Big Ink, RNWA, House Arrest, and Keywords for helping to spread the word!
Update 3: DonorsChoose has made the top 25! The semifinal round lasts until Sunday July 22nd. Please vote today!
| Charity | Education | Philanthropy | American Express | Members Project |
Found, rather accidentally and tangentially, on Emily’s personal journal: WorldCat, a collaborative cataloging of library collections. There are arguable snags, of course. I was told, for example, that the closest library where I could find John Knox’s First Book of Discipline was the Newberry Library in Chicago; this, when I know from personal experience that Yale’s Beinecke library has one just three blocks from my office. WorldCat did present me with a low-visibiilty link to Yale's own catalog. In any case, libraries are a great way to save you money and clutter. (One would think this is dog-bites-man news, but best-seller lists suggest otherwise.)
| Web Reference | Libraries |
In honor of the Fourth of July (and Kerim's birthday!), here's a bunch of fireworks photos I took last Saturday. Full set is here.
| Fireworks |
Bush, 2004:
"There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of."
Well, now we now what he meant by "taking care of" the law breaker. . . .
| Plamegate | Rule of Law |
It occurred to me, on the eve of this 232nd anniversary of the founding of our republic, that most of the independence days of which I knew were in the summer. As this group consisted of exactly 3 countries (USA, Canada, and France), I decided to make a survey that could more easily fool a listener into thinking it was authoritative. My extensive research took me to the first result in Google from searching for “national independence days”, some obscure children's site named Kids Turn Central. Dot com!
Turns out your most popular month for uprisings is September. Back to school, time to kill some aristocrats. June is right behind, with a higher percentage of nations in temperate climates. I guess for us, July is just too hot to take the yoke of oppression any more.
The listing of independence days or national holidays seems to be basically accurate, based on spot-checking against the CIA World Factbook. (Though you never know with those spooks. They could be sowing disinformation about Burkina Faso’s national holiday.) It’s probably not exhaustive, since it comprises only 120 nations, but I’ll assume it’s representative.
| Revolution |
.sbuıɥʇ 1ɐɹǝɯǝɥdǝ uo ʇɹodǝɹ 1ɐuoısɐɔɔo uɐ :ǝ1ppıpɐqɥsı
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In the latest Pak Talks Comics column, Greg answers my burning questions about gladiators, why it's so hard to make a good comic book movie, and how the heck you write for the Hulk. If you didn't pick up every ish, grab the Planet Hulk paperback -- there's a reason why all the fans are raving about Greg's Hulk story.
| Comics | When Bad Movies Happen To Good Comics | Hulk |
