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Much to write about later regarding this weekend at Fest and how I spent my Monday.
However, I wanted to post that while giving money to the Red Cross is a reasonably GoodThing, I have been told that the % of funds donated to RC that actually go to helpi ng the people (and the overall efficacy of the group) is inferior to some of the other organizations out there, but that the RC has a REALLY powerful PR machine that gets them to the front of the news as an org that helps (and when reporters go looking fo r who is helping, they know of the Red Cross so they look for them so they are the ones on the TV so more money goes and more awareness and you have a nice cycle). Not that I am cynical or anything.
I know that many religious groups have an arm that dea ls with disaster relief and the overhead for that arm is covered in the regular budget so any donations earmarked for a given situation go 100% to that situation.
The local conference of the UMC page for this: www.bwcumc.org/news_detail.asp?PKValue=1634 and I know (from my Mom who used to work there) that special donations will go in toto to the relief effort. I also appreciate that people are forbidden to include religious (and other) media in the relief kits.
In other brief news:
I have heard that one station had a 94cents/gallon hike in gas prices and that the gas that is coming into the stations is about 30c/gal higher than yesterday. You cannot convince me that the effects of having the system down is felt that much this fast. So, while some stations are probably price-gouging, I suspect the m ain gouge is higher up.
I also really wish that people would LISTEN to find out who brings up an issue and get fuzzed up at that person instead of the 'usual suspects'. I would further wish that people would realize that giving the wrong directions need s to be addressed and that if someone follows the directions AS GIVEN and has problems, that asking for clarification is not a sin. Sometimes people need to deal with reality and get on with it. As we were told over the weekend, just deal with it (and d eal we did).
If you give wrong information then later retract it, don't be shocked if decisions were made based on that wrong information and you are left holding the bill. Others are not responsible for your errors. Get over it.
People in cross-walks have the right-of-way; this is not negotiable. I don't have a lot of sympathy if you are running late, they have the right-of-way if they are in the cross-walk when you approach it.
Please do not feed the trolls.I
However, I wanted to post that while giving money to the Red Cross is a reasonably GoodThing, I have been told that the % of funds donated to RC that actually go to helpi ng the people (and the overall efficacy of the group) is inferior to some of the other organizations out there, but that the RC has a REALLY powerful PR machine that gets them to the front of the news as an org that helps (and when reporters go looking fo r who is helping, they know of the Red Cross so they look for them so they are the ones on the TV so more money goes and more awareness and you have a nice cycle). Not that I am cynical or anything.
I know that many religious groups have an arm that dea ls with disaster relief and the overhead for that arm is covered in the regular budget so any donations earmarked for a given situation go 100% to that situation.
The local conference of the UMC page for this: www.bwcumc.org/news_detail.asp?PKValue=1634 and I know (from my Mom who used to work there) that special donations will go in toto to the relief effort. I also appreciate that people are forbidden to include religious (and other) media in the relief kits.
In other brief news:
I have heard that one station had a 94cents/gallon hike in gas prices and that the gas that is coming into the stations is about 30c/gal higher than yesterday. You cannot convince me that the effects of having the system down is felt that much this fast. So, while some stations are probably price-gouging, I suspect the m ain gouge is higher up.
I also really wish that people would LISTEN to find out who brings up an issue and get fuzzed up at that person instead of the 'usual suspects'. I would further wish that people would realize that giving the wrong directions need s to be addressed and that if someone follows the directions AS GIVEN and has problems, that asking for clarification is not a sin. Sometimes people need to deal with reality and get on with it. As we were told over the weekend, just deal with it (and d eal we did).
If you give wrong information then later retract it, don't be shocked if decisions were made based on that wrong information and you are left holding the bill. Others are not responsible for your errors. Get over it.
People in cross-walks have the right-of-way; this is not negotiable. I don't have a lot of sympathy if you are running late, they have the right-of-way if they are in the cross-walk when you approach it.
Please do not feed the trolls.I