The Mixtape is Dead... Viva La Mixtape!

For those of you who liked the idea of checking out the artists in my previous post on "Girl Singers", but who didn't want to spend an hour and a half clicking each individual YouTube link to see/hear them all, I have compiled an imeem Playlist with all the ones mentioned, plus a few from the comments left by you readers. (Sorry, Brian, but your suggestion, and mine, were both too uptempo to make the cut)

Previous attempts at "embedding" imeem playlists on this page have had mixed results*. Many of the songs may appear as 30-second samples if you play the playlist from this page. If this is the case go to imeem, get a membership (it's free!), then play the playlist. Don't forget to make me your friend once you sign up! You can then send me songs you think I would like, see what I've been listening to lately, and make your own playlists, too!

One of the songs on the playlist is Ingrid Michaelson's "Breakable", which is about the fragility of human hearts and bones, and was playing in the background as I wrote about celebrating my Painiversary** I thought it was nice, so I included it here, separate from the playlist.




*The "Rain" related playlist I put up in advance of my flight to San Diego this January abridged Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic", omitting the mention of "rain on your wedding day", but including the part about the man dying in a plane crash**.

**Now That's Ironic (don'cha think?)

Two More Charities - Sorta...

I Honor Of My Painiversary, I am Donating This week's $52 to B.A.D.D., Bikers Against Drunk Driving. I Started to Donate To M.A.D.D. as well, (I'm a little Behind on the donations, in case anyone didn't notice), but I was Surprised to find that they were rated surprisingly low by Charity Navigator.

The more I look around Charity Navigator, The less Sense their ratings make to me, but looking over the info there, I was informed that the current CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving... is named Charles A. Hurley! I hope That none of my Readers have a Mother named Charles, but in my opinion, that is a lousy name for a mother to have.

I Know, "Mothers And Fathers (And Also Childless People) Against Drunk Driving" doesn't make as nice an Acronym (It's M.A.F.(A.A.C.P.)A.D.D., by the way),but still, Come On! "Hi, I represent Millions Of Mothers across The Nation, And My Name is Charles"? Maybe it's Sexist to say that Charles, or Steve, or Joseph, can't be president of the National Organization of Women, or Daughters of The American Revolution, or NAMBLA, (oh, well, I guess that one's OK.), but that's just where I stand on this.

Anyway, I Gave My 52 Bucks this week to Bikers Against Drunk Driving, who are not mothers, and don't claim to be. (Except maybe "Bad Mutha's" in the "Shaft"-ian sense -ShutYo'Mouth! Hey, I'm Just Talkin' 'Bout Shaft!) They Don't Accept Online Donations, which is kinda silly, considering it's pretty much the easiest way in the world to accept funds. (See my "Donate" button over in the sidebar? It's Easy!) So I will be mailing them an antique, Made-out-of-dead-Trees Check, made out for $51.51 (That 49-cent stamp doesn't buy itself, y'know!).

Over the last three weeks I gave away 52 bucks to motorists who showed up at the Gas Station where I work the late shift. On three separate occasions, I had people who had either poorly planned a trip, and run out of money before reaching their destination, or people whose plastic perpetual-money cards had abandoned them halfway through their trip. I gave each of these three parties enough money to get them either to their destination, or in one case, at least a little bit further down the road. Each of the three people swore that they would return to repay me. I told them each not to worry about it, but they each said, no, they would, for sure, come back and repay me, and boy did they really appreciate it. I was a lifesaver.

To date, none of them have repaid me. I didn't expect it, obviously, but it is a little annoying, as I write this, recalling how insistently they lied at the time.

So, Motorists, both two wheeled and four-wheeled, get covered in today's Charity Disbursement. Got any pet projects that you would like me to Donate to and/or Feature? Have you donated to any of my past charitable selections, and want to brag about it? Comment away below, if you feel like it.

Last Week

A Year Ago Today...

....A Part of Me Was Born.

Today I am 30 Years, Two Months, and 4 Days Old (Approximately. Hey, Who's Counting?), But My Left Elbow Turns 1.

The Weather was Wonderful Last Year, Just as it was Today, I Rode my Scooter Last Year, Just as I did Today. But Today, I wore my Padded Riding Jacket, And Last Year, I thought I didn't need to, "Just This Once".

I Did Need to, Just That Once. Today Is My One Year Painiversary.

Happy Birthday, Left Elbow, And Here's to Many More!

123 Book Meme

I have been tagged! Art, over at his own blog, "Tagged" me with a "Meme" Way back on the 8th of this month, right before my old Sony went to that big Circuit City in The Sky. Does getting "Tagged with a meme" hurt, you might ask? No (at least not usually!) What that means is that I have basically been handed the Blogospheric Equivalent of an E-Mail Chain Letter, with instructions to forward it along.

While I NEVER pass along email forwards (So don't even try it!), I don't mind getting tagged, because it saves me the effort of thinking about something to write. So here, without much further ado, is the 123 book meme.

1. Quick - Grab the nearest book. Go ahead, I'll wait!
2. Does it have at least 123 pages? If Not, grab the next nearest book, until you get one with 123 pages or more.
3. Find page 123. go PAST the first 5 sentences, and post the next three sentences.
4. Then "Tag" 3-5 people to do the same thing. I'm gonna take the Art approach (the Artistic/Artful approach?) to tagging, and say if you feel like doing this, then consider yourself "Tagged"!
   

Upon landing, They could see where the main bolt of lightning hit. It left a big dent in the nose, with many holes and nodules where the heat had melted the aluminum. [New paragraph..] At Ewa Beach it was month after month of squadron life, with or without husbands, playing bridge,telling stories, making and playing music, and every so often rousting ilicit lovers from behind dumpsters in a bit of impromptu moral policing that Rene and Jim Williford conducted for laughs.

I blog from the airport, so the nearest book was the Biography of Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, "For Spacious Skies", written by himself, and his daughter, Kris Stoever.

There Ya Go... Wanna play? The Comments section is wide open...

My Dad's "Girl Singers"

My dad has a certain style of female vocalist that appeals to him. A certain quirkiness, a certain range, a certain... je ne sais quoi, that makes certain artists his "Favorite Girl Singer" for the moment. Usually within a week, he has another, but not always. I think, unless he complains about it, that I will update you, my readers with the...

Nearly Weekly Girl Singer of the (somewhere around a) Week!

The First "Girl Singer" brought to my attention was Corinne Bailey Rae, whose name I had to type several different times to get the spelling right. I had no idea, when starting this post that I would accidentally run into Breaking News, but..

THIS JUST IN: Corinne Bailey Rae's husband, Jason Rae, was found over this weekend dead of an apparent drug-overdose, although toxicology reports are pending. A man is was being held on suspicion of supplying the lethal drugs, but is now out on bail.

... And now, continuing with the Music-related (and hopefully not further death-related) post, Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled album was my brother's Christmas gift to my Dad two Decembers ago, and I am pretty sure this was the first time I heard the term "My New Favorite Girl Singer" from my Dad. Her song "Put Your Records On" was her big hit, until her performance at the Grammy Awards of "Like A Star", which is her Current big hit.

I didn't keep in very good touch with my Dad for a while there, following that Christmas, but then I started a little blog, called The Daily Blog of the Day, and badgered him (and everybody else I know) into subscribing. Since then I have gotten much more frequent updates on Girl Singerdom, and the first of these was Feist. Nobody doesn't kow who Leslie Feist is nowadays, thanks to a little thing called the Apple iPod Nano, and the commercials for it.

Prior to the Apple iPod Nano commercial airing, The Reminder was selling at approximately 6,000 copies per week, and "1234" at 2,000 downloads per week. Following the commercial, the song passed 73,000 total downloads and reached No. 7 on Hot Digital Songs and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100; The Reminder jumped from No. 36 to No. 28 on the Billboard 200, with sales of 19,000
--From Aol Music, via Wikipedia.

Then We moved on to Katie Melua, whose song "If You Were A Sailboat" was recommended especially, but whose song "Nine Million Bicycles" I like even better.

Then on to Yael Naim, whose Song "New Soul" was featured in... An Apple Commercial! This one for the Manila-clad "Air" Notebook. (Steve Jobs and my Dad seem to have very similar tastes when it comes to Girl Singers) It is Super catchy, He sent me a link to this video, but I will send you to this one instead, because it doesn't feature a Trombono-cam. (You can click that first link, if you simply must see a Trombono-cam, but you shouldn't. You will now, though, won't you?)

Then on to the current Girl Singer of the Moment, Regina Spektor. My brother Jeremy brought her to my Dad's attention, and I think she is pretty groovy. I had heard of her before my dad sent me a link, but I had never really listened to her much, and I had never seen her, either. I was surprised to find out she was white. Much as I had been surprised long before to find out that Corinne Bailey Rae wasn't. Oh well, live and learn. My e-friend and co-blogger Art described her this way on his blog:

Regina Spektor - She reminds me of Leslie Feist… only interesting. And I'm pretty sure the lovely Ms. Regina can properly count to ten.

Allison Krauss also recently got a nod from Dad, in a related category.. "Girl Singer singing with a Groovy Geezer"

When further "Girl Singers" are discovered, I will bring them to your attention, here on the Daily Blog of the Day!

Got any favorites that fit into this category? Let me (and my Dad) know! As a Matter of Fact, I'll start... Hey Dad, have you heard HER?

(please let me know by e-mail if any of these links are broken! I am having a few "issues" with the new computer still.)

Happy Celebration of Spring Renewal!

For those of you Celebrating Easter tomorrow, Happy Easter! To those of you not, Happy Sunday!

I have to work a ridiculous shift, Smack in the middle of the Day (Late Afternoon thru Early Evening), so mine will not be quite as happy as I would like, but as long as we don't repeat certain Christmas Difficulties, then I should be OK. (Yes, that co-worker still has her job. The good news is, if she gets to keep her job, then I know mine is safe!)

I will refer you back to this post for pointers on how to behave yourselves this holiday.

(Elizabeth, I will be posting your wonderful Customer service comments soon.)

If you want to learn German, Go to Germany.

Likewise, if you really want to learn linux, then make it your sole operating system. It doesn't make it any easier to learn, but it forces you to learn it anyway. I had been meaning to make the switch from Windows to linux for quite a while, but I approached it the same way I approach really, really cold water, on a really warm day. I dipped a toe in, then, as soon as it became uncomfortable, yanked it back out, telling myself I would do it for real next time.

Then some spyware came by, and like a schoolyard bully, shoved me facefirst into the icy waters of linux, and I have spent the last ...week? 2weeks? I don't even know how long... sputtering and coughing up boot configurations and driver incompatibilities, and shivering from the shock of the sudden immersion.

But now, I am starting to adjust, and the environment feels more familiar. I am still only doggie-paddling through the graphical interface, but I have managed to get a few things set up the way I want, and I am able to look forward to the day when I will cut through the waters with dolphin-like grace and ease.

Thanks to everyone for being patient with me through my blogging hiatus while I suffered through this period of adjustment.

Work Resumes!

Once more into the Kitchen, dear friends, and let slip the Dogs of Spackle!

A Computer With Not Enough Memory....

....Is worse than No computer at all.

It teases you into thinking you can do stuff, and then only lets you know you can't open a program after it has sat around "working" on opening it for a few minutes. Then it doesn't have enough memory to STOP working on opening it, then it doesn't have enough memory to turn OFF!!!!


AAAAAARRGGHHH!!!!

I am currently on a debt-reduction plan, and I know I should be putting my Tax Money Windfall toward that, but I am very tempted to start laptop shopping.

My First Post-Windows Post

Right after posting about how Free Software beats Copyrighted Software, I got the opportunity to Learn a LOT more about it, firsthand. While trying to remove some stubborn Spyware, I accidentally scrapped the whole operating system.

Yep. I killed my laptop.

So Now, it is a Linux Laptop.

I lost a lot of programs, saved passwords, photos, movies, and music, as well as a sense of familiarity with everything. I feel like my house burned down, with a lot of my stuff in it. And while I am really excited about my new "Ubuntu Linux" house, it is going to take a while before it feels like home.

Right now, I am still trying to figure out the little things, like where the light switches and electrical outlets are, but when I get it really going, it should be even nicer than my 7-year old "Windows XP" house.

Wish me luck, and pardon my absence from the blogosphere while I get my new system "broken in".

Two Charities, and a Software Parable.

I said when I started this that I dreaded starting a "regular" feature, because of the likelihood that it would actually be a rather irregularly occurring feature. Sometimes I hate being right.

My 5th featured charity is arguably not a charity. However they do a lot of good in the world, and they give stuff away for free, which is pretty charitable, if you ask me. My 52 dollars for LAST week (actually it was 32 Euros, which worked out to just over $50) went to OpenOffice.Org , a community based, free and open-source alternative to Microsoft's suite of Office Software Products.

I have been using OpenOffice's Word Processing and Spreadsheet products for years now, but I had been using the outdated version of both, up until last month, when I upgraded to their Version 2.3, which works even better than the old version, which I was plenty happy with anyway. The new version's file format is compatible with Google Documents and Zoho Writer, both of which I use occasionally. They are all interoperable with the "Brand Name" programs, so if your boss sends you an Excel-formatted spreadsheet, you can open it, edit it, and save it (as an Excel-formatted document, if you wish) with the OpenOffice software.

If you have a computer with no Office Productivity Software, and you don't want to shell out the $400 (YIKES!) for the standard full version of Microsoft's flagship Office suite, visit OpenOffice.org, and get a spreadsheet program. Or a Word Processor, or a Presentation program. (Think "Powerpoint") Or a Vector graphics program, a la CorelDraw. Or a Database Front-end program, for whatever the heck you might need that for. I only have the first two, but they are all available, and they are all free. No strings attached, no catches, no gimmicks, they won't sell your e-mail address and demographic information to Nigerian e-mail scammers... It's Just FREE. Period. The Nicest Price of All.

But Free Software, in the case of OpenOffice and other organizations like them, means more than just "Doesn't Cost Money". Free Software is also Free in the sense of "Unconfined", "Unbound", or "Uncaged". It has to do with who is allowed to tinker with the software.

Say you buy two software products, let's say MP3 Player Programs, for $50 each. One of the Programs is By ConGlomoSoft, and the other is by WizzleSoft. They both come in a slick cardboard box, they both are on the same shelf at the mall electronics store. They both cost 50 bucks, and they both play MP3's on your computer, and let you organize playlists and libraries and all that good stuff. Maybe they do some other stuff too, because 50 bucks is a serious ripoff for a program that only plays MP3's. But I'm keepin' it simple here, OK? So bear with me.

There is one major difference between the two products, though. The WizzleSoft product comes with, either packaged in the box or made available in some other way, the Source Code for the program. OK, Non Geeks, think of the source code as a book manuscript, printed on paper, in a ring binder, double spaced. The main thing you are after, though, the thing that will actually run on your computer, is the Binary form of the program. Think of the Binary as a book-on-CD, an audio recording of the book.

The ConGlomoSoft product is distributed in Binary form only. You don't have access to the source code. They wrote the program the way they wanted it, recorded it, and sold you the result. To go back to our book metaphor, they say "You don't need to see how the words are spelled, or how things are punctuated, to enjoy the book! Just sit back and listen to the story, the way we wrote it."

The first problem with this is, what if they made a mistake? What if in our book, the hero's name is "Biff" at the beginning of the book, but then it switches to "Boff", halfway through the book? How Distracting! If you you had the book manuscript, you could get out a little bottle of White-out, and a pen, and fix the Boffs, so they match the Biffs! Or Change the Biffs to Boffs! or change ALL the Biffs AND Boffs to Steves! You have the Manuscript, It's yours; go crazy! If you don't like the way Biff/Boff/Steve slays the Dragon, Change it! You might need a lot more white-out, but you can do whatever you like! You have the manuscript. You can add little doodles in the margins, or add in steamy sex scenes, or whatever you want! It's yours!

To complete our analogy, though, you have a friend name Jonny Compiler, who is a professional voice actor. To get the Book-on-CD (That's the Binary, remember?), you hand your new, altered manuscript to Mr. Compiler, and he records you a new Binary Recording of the book, only without the distracting Biff-Boffery that the original writers accidentally included. Then when you play it again, later, the book will play the way you want it to, because your changes are still there.

If you only got the binary in the first place (from ConGlomoSoft), you are stuck with any biffboffery you get, because you can't edit the CD, like you can the manuscript.

Probably, you don't want to change your software right away though. Probably your MP3 playing software works just fine. You add songs, you play songs, all's well in the world.

Until some jerk goes and invents HIGH DEFINITION MP3's.

Immediately, everyone stops using regular, Boring "Low Def" MP3's overnight. Now all the new songs you get come in this new format, and a few months later you now have a mix of 20% HD-MP3's, and 80% regular MP3's.

ConGlomoSoft has a new $100 program that plays both formats, but wouldn't it be great if you could just "tweak" the software you had, and not have to move all your song libraries and preferences and everything over to a new program? This one works pretty well, and you know it, and like it (and it's already been paid for), so why not see if your friend, the computer genius down in Apartment F-30, can modify your program to be able to read the new HD-MP3's.

Well, if you have the source code, he might. But without it, you're screwed. Your ConGlomoSoft program is unmodifiable in it's binary form, and even if you had acquired the source code from somewhere, it turns out it is Copyright-protected, and if you modify it, in any way, you are breaking the law! Legally, the only way you can update your ConGlomoSoft program, is to buy the new version from them.

Your WizzleSoft program, however, is not copyrighted, but "copylefted", under something called the GNU General Public License (GPL, for short). The reason you got the source code for free with your WizzleSoft program, is because the GPL said they had to! When you acquired the program it came with a set of rights, and a set of responsibilities.

The rights included are free access to the source code, and rights to modify the program however you want. So if your Buddy in Apt. F-30 can tweak your program to accept the new format, you have the right to do it! You also have the right to give him a copy of the new program for his troubles! You even have the right to SELL copies of your new, Super MP3 Player to other people!

BUT... You are legally required to give them the same chance you got. You are NOT allowed to build your new program based on the hard work of the folks at WizzleSoft, and then get all Gollum-My-Preciouss about it. You have to share the source code to your new work, and include a copy of the GPL with each new copy. Then when SUPER-High definition MP3's come out a year later, your customers don't end up in the same bind that ConGlomoCorp's junky Copyrighted program left you in.

So Last week's 32 Euros went to OpenOffice.Org, and this week, my 52 bucks goes to the Free Software Foundation.(FSF, for short) The FSF fights against the ConGlomoSofts of the world when they try to restrict and control software to protect their interests.

Chances are Really Good that you are benefiting from some form of free, community developed software right now, while you are reading this. Are you using Mozilla Firefox? That's Free Software, under a GPL license. Are you using a Mac from this decade? At the core of OS X is a bit of Free Software called Darwin, which is distributed under Apple's own Public Source License.

The ConGlomoSoft-type companies out there can afford really good lawyers, and current patent and copyright laws allow them to get away with some pretty heavy-handed stuff. As more and more of our world goes digital, the fights over File-sharing, copy-protection, and a host of other issues are going to be fought and re-fought, with more and more at stake. A contribution to the Free Software Foundation helps ensure that someone in the fight is looking out for us consumers.

My "Friday 5": Real-People Songs.

Over at Art's Strange World, Art has a recurring feature called the Friday 5, where he thinks of some list of five things and challenges his readers to post their own additions to the list.

Lately, the lists have been Songs tied together by some common theme. Songs featuring Cadillacs, Cars (excluding Cadillacs), States, Cities, Years, Heaven and Hell, and this week, People.

I've been playing along, and having fun. It reminds me of my old college buddy, Corey Fager, who was very proud of his semi-encyclopedic knowledge of rock music. He would challenge a group of his friends to throw out a word at random, and he would see how quickly he could respond with a line from a song. I think I stumped him once with the word "penguin", but he was rarely stumped for long.

Anyway, today's challenge over at Art's blog was songs based on or mentioning real people. Living or dead, important or obscure; if they made it into a song, they are fair game.

Here's My 5...

1. James K. Polk by They Might be Giants. (Highly Edu-taining!)
   
2. Mandelbrot Set by Johnathon Coulton. (Even More Edu-taining. Warning: Strong language.)
   
3. Frank Sinatra by Cake.
   
4. Mrs. Robinson by Simon + Garfunkel, and others.(Mrs. Robinson may not be real, but Joe DiMaggio is.)
5. Candle In The Wind by Elton John. (about either Marilyn Monroe, or Princess Diana, depending on the version)

There you have it. A President, A Mathematician, A Singer, A Baseball Player (and Mr. Coffee Spokesperson),as well as an Actress and/or Princess. All immortalized in Song.

I will throw the comments section open to those of you who have any to add. What's your 5? Bonus Points for Obscurity!

For an extra challenge, try a sub-theme: All Women? People Not Mentioned In The Song's Title? All Minorities? All Still Living? All Non-Americans? All Children? All Elderly? All Villains? Give it a shot! You might just use up your whole Friday, and bring the Weekend on even sooner.

Paper Pots for Dummiez!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I have used almost 24,000 words to instruct you in the creation of paper seed-starter pots. I call them nifty pots, because they are nifty, and because "Newspaper Seed Starter Pots" is long to say and type.

The step-by-step photographic instructions are here, in my Picasa Album labeled "NiftyPots".

Or click here for (hopefully) the NiftyPot Slideshow, in all its full-screen glory.

Here is a preview.


P.S. - I just realized that at first glance, this looks crazy complicated, but that is only because I went into insane detail. Most of you will not need that level of detail, but it is there for those who do. Even dummiez should be able to make a paper pot.

What Do The Ladies Think About Frank?

You bet your sweet behind he is!

Although I haven't been that way since 1920. That part was way off!

Sorry, ladies, but I am Spoken For.

(To be fair, some of the Fellas out there also feel this way. Doesn't matter; I'm still Spoken For.)

New And Unimproved!

If you look closely at the above picture, you will notice a few small differences between these candy bars. The first bar proudly and simply states that it *is* "peanuts in milk chocolate".
The second bar, however, adjusts this formula to declare that it is "made *with* chocolate and peanuts."
The difference, in short, seems to be that the cocoa butter has been removed, and replaced with vegetable oil and salt.
If I am remembering right, cocoa butter is the most expensive part of milk chocolate, much as cream is the priciest part of milk. Companies that extract the cocoa butter from their chocolate can sell it to other companies who want it, reducing the cost of the chocolate. This means you now get a less yummy, less valuable candy bar, for the same price as before.
Healthwise, the new recipe very slightly decreases the snack's cholesterol, slightly increases the fat, and more than *triples* the bar's sodium content.
So, farewell, Mr. Goodbar, and hello to Mr. Mediocrebar.

If You Watch More TV Than I Do...

(And C'mon! Who Doesn't?)

...Then you may have seen the new Slim Jim commercials featuring the "Snapalope". These spots feature young men stalking little stick figure creatures that resemble Christmas "Reindeer" decorations made from pipe-cleaner. These critters follow in the grand tradition of the mythical Jackalope, and Berkeley Breathed's bizzare Basselope.

Con Agra Foods, Inc. apparently had to come up with a new ad campaign, since Randy "The Macho Man" Savage has moved on to play the role of Sasquatch in commercials for their competitor, Jack Link.

I realize that Slim Jims are marketed at men almost exclusively, and if you see the TV ads, it is clear that they are appealing to the manly, hunt-something-and-kill-it mystique, but there may be an unintended consequence to this campaign...

... Do they really want to draw attention to the fact that the meat in a Slim Jim can't be attributed to any particular real animal? I guess hunting a beef and/or mechanically separated chicken fortified with modified hydrolyzed soy protein just doesn't have the same appeal.

My Kitchen Mural. Let Me Show You It.

Jane, If you are reading this, sorry it took me so long to post.

Two Weekends ago, my Inlaws came down, armed with boxes upon boxes of painted and glazed 2-inch ceramic tiles. My Mother-in-law is a Potter, professionally, and bought several hundred pounds of these tiles from eBay or some Warehouse-going-out-of-business sale a year or so ago. She used a whole lot of them to make a beautiful aerial scene for the Eastern wall of my kitchen.

The scene is based on the view from the hang-gliding ramp operated by Tennessee Tree Toppers, which overlooks the Sequatchie Valley. Bill Colvin, a "Tree Topper" himself, was there to help, along with his lovely wife, Jane, a world-class cook, who prepared some terrific White Chicken Chili for the occasion. Bill and Jane live within walking distance of the ramp, so this mural is also roughly the view from their backyard.

The mural is still not entirely done, but we got a lot more done after Bill and Jane Had to leave, and I promised I would post the pictures of what got done Monday Morning.

So here it is folks. For larger pictures, you should be able to click on the slideshow.

...When They Pry Them From My Cold, Dead, Feet!

I came across this article this morning, and it amused me.

How To Recycle Your Socks from WikiHow


First off, they mostly mean "Reuse", not "Recycle".

Secondly, these people have obviously never seen my socks!

If my socks have any shred of usefulness left in them, they get used on my feet, not as a Hacky-sack, or a coin purse, and I certainly don't want it anywhere near a beverage!

A Doll! hardly! A Voodoo Doll of me, maybe, but it would be an ugly one. A "Sock Monkey" made from one of my socks would likely be as scary as the ones in "Outbreak"! And possibly as deadly! Not the sort of thing I would want anywhere near a child!

Charity-A-Week #4 - Goods 4 Girls

In today's post, more than you probably ever wanted to know about...

Menstruation! There, I Said It!

I apologize in advance to those who are “ick”ed out by today's topic, but the schooling of thousands of girls could be helped by our attention to it.

I, of course, am a guy. I have never had to think about this (And hope to not think about it much more for a while, thank you very much!) For me, the phrase "Feminine Protection" refers to the fact that I am the one who goes into the kitchen at night with a baseball bat to investigate any unusual noises.* And if I need any "Feminine Protection", it means that I have made a female very angry, and she is trying to hurt me. (Survival tip: Distract them with Chocolate.)

It seems that Procter+Gamble (not those old Satanists from the 80's, but the new and improved Satan-Free P+G) has been raising awareness of the need for their sanitary absorbent products in the 3^rd World. It seems that a lot of organizations, municipal and charitable alike, are doing their darnedest to provide schools for African Kids, only to have the post-pubescent girls (young women, technically) miss out on a few days of that education, every single month, because they are experiencing one of the most euphemised processes in the universe, and they don't want to ruin their school uniform, or be made fun of, or both, because of their “Girl Problems”. This adds up, and girls end up getting less educated than their male classmates., which can help lead to even more inequality down the road.

(That was totally a joke about the Satanist thing, just to be perfectly clear. This is the internet, after all, and confusion abounds, despite our best efforts!)

Well, Procter+Gamble has looked into this problem, and wants to draw attention to it, and help. I applaud this. If you want to help them help, then the program is called “Protecting Futures” and you can find out more here.**

But that's not where my 52*** dollars went this week. I gave to a different organization, called Goods 4 Girls, which takes the good that P+G is doing on the "People" side of the Responsibility Pyramid, and tacks toward the "Planet" Side, as well, getting closer to the Win-Win-Win situation at the top or the pyramid. (I am not sure where the economics comes in, but I am sure it factors in somewhere.)

This program (Started By Blogger "Crunchy Chicken", and brought to my attention by my increasingly frequent co-bloggers over at Tiny Choices), Goods 4 Girls provides, not disposable "Feminine Protection" products, but reusable, cloth pantiliners (Yeesh! I still can't believe I am blogging about this subject...) that will protect girls from embarrassment and keep them in school, without getting them "hooked" on an imported, expensive product produced in North America (One of the only things made here, it seems), and shipped on a fuel sucking barge all the way to the shores of Ethiopia, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia. (Goods for Girls is based in Kenya and Uganda, so they are not "competing" with the Procter+Gamble program. If this cause really appeals to you, and you really want to cover your bases, you can support both programs, but see footnote 2 before you sign anything.)

Once the girls are adults, and out of school, their feminine needs will persist, but the free supplies will not. You can bet that they will be very "brand loyal" customers, and will be as acclimated to disposables as most westerners are now. As a matter of fact, most women reading this probably can't imagine using anything other than whatever (probably disposable) product they are using now. Moms who are eco-conscious enough to not put their babies in disposable diapers may still recoil at the thought of doing away with their own disposable products. There are plenty of more planet-conscious alternatives out there, although I won't go into them here. Crunchy Chicken has quite a bit more info for you ladies. Men, If you are still reading, don't follow the above link. Seriously. Don't.

Goods 4 Girls is a modest step in the right direction, and while there is certainly room for improvement and growth in their organization, I am happy to support their efforts.

Feetnotes....

*The Baseball Bat is relatively useless in my hands anyway, and only ever serves to make the cat look even more ashamed of me for being afraid of him.

**You can't actually Donate money directly to the "Protecting Futures" program. (Except by buying their overpriced name-brand at the supermarket, of which "A Portion" will go to this program.) You can donate to their Partner Charity, The UNA-USA "Hero" program, but I would not recommend it. A Charity Navigator Search reveals that less than 80% of your dollar will go to program expenses, the rest of it being used for Promotions, and a wildly out-of scale CEO pay.
And it gets worse! The USA-UNA has no privacy policy for their donors. Not even an "opt-out" policy, which is fairly common. This means the likelihood of your mailing and personal info being sold to other companies is very high, and I have a real strong hunch that a gift to the "Hero" program will plug your addess right into "Targeted Marketing Efforts" by corporo-giant P+G, setting you up for a steady stream of mailings designed to play on your heartstrings for their profit. If you contribute to UNA-USA (and the "Business Council for the United Nations"), brace yourself for a Smeat-storm!

***Actually, It was 54, because you can't currently donate directly to G4G, either. (Late Update: yes you can! but by paper check only.) Buying 10 pads (Actually 12, with the Buy-4-Get-1-Free deal) put me just slightly over my self-imposed 52 dollar a week target.