Charity

This is an interesting article that reports on a state ranking by calculating what percentage of its residents’ income is given to charity. Nebraska’s third BEFORE counting the Warren Buffet donation to the Gates Foundation.

Georgia ranks 5th. Given what I saw happen after Hurricane Katrina last year (Atlanta absorbed the second largest number of refugees after Houston), I’m not surprised. It seemed like everyone was collecting food or clothes or money or offering you opportunities to donate your time. One church in our neighborhood was putting up two or three families for a couple of months, and just through the neighborhood organizations, I’d bet they got enough clothes/toiletries to hold five families for that long.

FWIW, here are the other states I’ve lived in:

• California’s 21st
• Wisconsin’s 24th
• Michigan’s 33rd
• Washington’s 35th

A Good Deed for the Day

The Economist profiled Africa@Home a couple of weeks ago. It’s like SETI@home, but instead of looking for little green men, they’re running computer simulations of diseases prevalent in Africa (the first one’s malaria).

Two Stories about Sunday’s Disaster

• One of the interesting points to emerge from Sunday’s disaster is that recording technology has come far enough that reporters can concentrate on telling the right story, rather than on simply showing the pictures. Ultimately, I think that’s a good thing.
• Some folks created a how-to-help blog. Blogs, apparently, also played a big part in getting details about the disaster out quickly.

They Need Help

If you haven’t yet, you should think about donating some money to a relief organization to help with the earthquake/tsunami aftermath.

• Doctors Without Borders
• The Red Cross
• The New York Times’ How To Help Page
• The Washington Post’s How To Help Page

And, if you didn’t see it, a vacationing Washington Post reporter was swimming off the coast of Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit.