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...I wonder what good causes we would donate to.
Mine:
1. Wikipedia. Over the last 6/7/8 years (can't remember just how long) I have had so much fun with the site. I've looked up possible Trivia questions, medical information, and too many other topics to count. I'd like to give them $500,000.
P.S. Wikipedia is in the middle of their annual fundraising campaign. Their goal was $16 million, and they have $2.5 mil to go. Stop over and drop off a buck or two. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
How about you?
"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."
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What a fine idea Spike! [Image Can Not Be Found]
Seeds of Peace is my first stop. While I give them what I can it's not near enough. I've praised the tough-minded, pragmatic organization on FFC in the past. http://www.seedsofpeace.org/
With The Big Bucks to throw I'd create some type of library endowment. Branches are being closed across the nation (USA) and often those branches are the only online access the disenfranchised have in a world where getting services increasingly can only be gained with that access. Hell, they're at least as important as the school infrastructure and the free press (state of journalism, a rant for another time). Librarians are not only trained to process the firehose of information and offer that service to all comers free of charge they're also in the trenches disinfecting sticky picture books and public computer keyboards with their master's degrees. Last but not least: librarian chicks are hot. [Image Can Not Be Found]
grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!
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I wouldn't mind hearing your media/journalism rant Fink. Emilie (my lady love) got me a membership to our local public Radio station for the holidays. Something like a $100 for what is essentially a donation in my name. At some point (months or years ago) I'd suggested that if I had extra money, I'd donate to the station as I'd been listening to it for so long, but never donated. She was just trying to make my wish a reality.
The thing is, I haven't been able to listen to the station these last 6-12 months as I just can't stand this fair and balanced shit anymore. My own mini-rant: Modern news media seems obsessed with "presenting both sides" of every news story. It sounds nice in theory, but frankly I don't think every issue has two sides to present. Take gay marriage for instance. Yes, there are "two sides" to the argument. One is the human rights/civil rights side of things, namely giving all people access to the same rights and privileges some of us enjoy. The other side is the hater/bigot side of "well the bible says they're wrong, so screw the homos!"
So you got these "two sides" of an issue. Most news organizations then take these two, and give equal time to both sides, unless they're Fox "news" in which case they shout down the gay rights side of the argument, while glorifying hate (Fox news has more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined by the way..) Now, I just don't think this is right. I'm not saying haters don't have the right to hate. But I don't want to provide money to a platform these people have to spout their angry shit on.
When I got the letter in the mail saying a $100 was donated to my local public radio station (who's ALL ABOUT featuring "both sides,") I was kind of upset, as I felt half that money empowered the racists, and biggots, and the "fuck the poor/ no taxes" crowd of people that seem to dominate the airwaves now-a-days.
Final point: Not every argument has two sides. Sometimes, their is a fair side, and a popular side to an argument. Popular doesn't mean right. It just means the majority agree, which often just means the minority loose. There is my media rant. I can go off about the "left wing" news organizations too by the way, lest anyone think that's what I want to replace "fair and balanced."
If I had tons of money to donate now-a-days, I'd just buy up as much land that contains endangered species as I could, and keep it safe from loggers, poachers, so on.
Edit: Fink has informed me that I'm an ass for pooing all over Spike's happy, help the world with charity thread. I agree. I can't help myself sometimes. ; )
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For charity: Kiva. I have about $250 in there right now and just keep recycling it. It's a wonderful way to help individuals. I'd like to add several thousand to increase my loaning.
The rest of you are clearly Better People than me. I give a fair amount now and I'm not certain millions would change that. I'd give some to the Norwegian Seed Bank, which is going to save the plants once we wreck the planet.
IF I won the bazillottery, let's see... start paying my writers, for one. They deserve it. They've certainly earned it. Buy my parents a house in Majorca. Visit Bikini Atoll. Then, basically, drink myself to death whilst playing video games. I'd create some sort of will so the rest can go to the needy.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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Armand said:
Edit: Fink has informed me that I'm an ass for pooing all over Spike's happy, help the world with charity thread. I agree. I can't help myself sometimes. ; )
Worry not, Armand. But you did add a bit of fuel to my Rant Engine, and it's starting to chug. I'm off to eat lunch now, but by the time I'm done that engine will have built up a good head of steam.
"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."
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If I had all this money to give away, I would give:
- 1/2 to The Metropolitan Opera. Someone has to keep culture alive.
- 1/2 to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This foundation has done more to improve health and education than any other.
Kay
Imagine life with no hypothetical situations.
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1). I would open up houses for single people with mental and/or addiction issues that don't currently qualify for state funded programs. There are many barriers for those without children and those with part time jobs that cannot find full time employment and/or denied state insurance.
2). Oregon Food Bank
3). Mercy Corps Northwest
4). I'd buy my own Taco Bell franchise and give out free meals 🙂
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I'd give the Nature Conservancy a call. I've seen their good work in action more than once.
I'd cruise Kickstarter and see what wacky stuff I could encourage. For instance a friend wants to take her whiny preteen son on a low budget walking/donkey back tour of Africa to shake his entitled ass up a little. In return she'd have to write a blog about their experiences. Another friend I knows goes into prisons and mounts Shakespearan plays using inmates for every slot. So much worthy stuff out there.
Also, if he is still alive, the guy who invented all those trippy drugs back in the 60s and 70s and gave away the formulas is sick and I'd set him up in a villa in Tuscany somewhere. He's probably done as much to change the world as anyone I can think of and he is dying penniless.*
I'd build a recording studio/gallery/press/media development etc. arty thingie and grant scholarships to whomever a hand picked FFC panel would deem worthy from the hallowed halls of The Bunker. Or maybe just tell Finkbug to take care of it.
Seriously, I'd mostly fund education and healthcare for 6-16 year old kids. That would be 80% of my spending. Maybe 90%.
I'm assuming I have really, really lots of money here.
* EDIT: What I read at least from a not too reliable source on Vice, some guy who licks toads to get high.
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One thing I'd like to do is take a group of as many kids as I could each year - 50-100 maybe - kids who had absolutely no chance of going to college, and put them through college on a full ride with minor conditions (four years, don't flunk out). Whether they be inner-city kids or kids who just can't afford it for some other reason, it would be a small contribution in the scheme of things but could really change lives.
I'd never heard of Kickstarter, Scout, that looks cool. Like Kiva for creatives.
Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.
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