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I'm sitting in front of my SAD lamp, because i think the grey wet weather has had something to do with my grey mood of the weekend. And i'm drinking a poorly made cup of bagged tea while i wait for the kettle to boil a second time. This wait will be successful, since i turned on the kettle.
I'm tickled that Google found an article by my brother. It relates how China is punishing the Rice Noodle Cartel. I suppose it has to do with the "punished with a wet noodle" phrase, but somehow the Rice Noodle Cartel sounds like only a comically distressing challenge.
I have emails from Kickstarter Ted Rall, the political cartoonists/journalist who is returning to Afghanistan this August. Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East? and To Afghanistan and Back: A Graphic Travelogue tempt me as "nice additions to our graphic novel/comics/cartoons collection. But i'm holding back as the ghost of Alec Guinness says "Use the Library, Elaine, Use the Library."
As Ted Rall points out, old media doesn't have the cash these days to fund investigative international journalism. My next funding venture is this one for a documentary on Somali pirates, in part reported by a Somali journalist. Note that you don't need to start at the giving level of $100, but could start lower. I did. There goes (if he gets full funding) the allowance money i would have spent on the Ted Rall book.
I also am mildly annoyed with the Kickstarter who had all the salt and pepper shakers. She wrote, letting me know the pair i'd picked out wasn't available, asking for second choices (which i had written in the request). When i replied, she wrote, "Oops, i've already sent something else." I've feeling a certain sense of cursedness around salt and pepper shakers (and butter dishes). Well, not cursedness. But you know how pop happiness gurus suggest one should, "Ask the universe," for what one wants? It's like whenever i ask the universe about salt and pepper shakers, it misroutes the order. I wanted one of my grandmother's collection: i got an ugly cheap tea pot. Christine and I picked out a pair from this person's collection (inherited from her grandmother): we'll see what i get. At least it will be a salt and pepper shaker, presumably smaller than the long discarded tea pot.
Just to note, Kickstarter is different from Kiva in that Kiva is a loan and Kickstarter is more of a grant. Kiva loans may be risky, but theoretically you get your money back. With Kickstarter, you may get a material object (the salt and pepper shakers) or email reports or your name in the credits or a copy of a published media object or nothing: the Kickstarter users can offer a range of thank-yous. Both systems, though, function on the principle that enough people need to chip in to reach the target amount before the grant is made. Both systems have low entry points, $25 with kiva and even lower with Kickstarter, which lets me feel rich by participating in the funding of journalists and small businesses with my allowance.
I'm tickled that Google found an article by my brother. It relates how China is punishing the Rice Noodle Cartel. I suppose it has to do with the "punished with a wet noodle" phrase, but somehow the Rice Noodle Cartel sounds like only a comically distressing challenge.
I have emails from Kickstarter Ted Rall, the political cartoonists/journalist who is returning to Afghanistan this August. Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East? and To Afghanistan and Back: A Graphic Travelogue tempt me as "nice additions to our graphic novel/comics/cartoons collection. But i'm holding back as the ghost of Alec Guinness says "Use the Library, Elaine, Use the Library."As Ted Rall points out, old media doesn't have the cash these days to fund investigative international journalism. My next funding venture is this one for a documentary on Somali pirates, in part reported by a Somali journalist. Note that you don't need to start at the giving level of $100, but could start lower. I did. There goes (if he gets full funding) the allowance money i would have spent on the Ted Rall book.
I also am mildly annoyed with the Kickstarter who had all the salt and pepper shakers. She wrote, letting me know the pair i'd picked out wasn't available, asking for second choices (which i had written in the request). When i replied, she wrote, "Oops, i've already sent something else." I've feeling a certain sense of cursedness around salt and pepper shakers (and butter dishes). Well, not cursedness. But you know how pop happiness gurus suggest one should, "Ask the universe," for what one wants? It's like whenever i ask the universe about salt and pepper shakers, it misroutes the order. I wanted one of my grandmother's collection: i got an ugly cheap tea pot. Christine and I picked out a pair from this person's collection (inherited from her grandmother): we'll see what i get. At least it will be a salt and pepper shaker, presumably smaller than the long discarded tea pot.
Just to note, Kickstarter is different from Kiva in that Kiva is a loan and Kickstarter is more of a grant. Kiva loans may be risky, but theoretically you get your money back. With Kickstarter, you may get a material object (the salt and pepper shakers) or email reports or your name in the credits or a copy of a published media object or nothing: the Kickstarter users can offer a range of thank-yous. Both systems, though, function on the principle that enough people need to chip in to reach the target amount before the grant is made. Both systems have low entry points, $25 with kiva and even lower with Kickstarter, which lets me feel rich by participating in the funding of journalists and small businesses with my allowance.
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