breakfast first

The Diaster in the South

As with many natural diasters, some of the most helpless victims of hurricane Katrina are the animals. The stories of people and animals being separated bring me to tears. Many people were unable to return to their homes, and do not know the fate of their pets. Others have tried to stay with their pets, only to find that they cannot bring them into shelters or on the evacuation busses:

Many people had dogs and they cannot take them on the bus. A police officer took one from a little boy, who cried until he vomited. "Snowball, snowball," he cried. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.

Pets aren't the only animals suffering. On farms and in zoos, animals are succumbing to flooding, starvation, and dehydration. I can't imagine the horror.

I've found some organizations that are rescuing animals, and they're all accepting donations. I encourage everyone reading this to send just a few dollars to help them out.

• Noah's Wish: an organization focus solely on rescuing animals from natural diasters. The donation link, via Paypal, is about halfway down the page.

• International Fund for Animal Welfare: Their donation page accepts credit cards.

• American Humane/The Humane Society of the United States: You can make a donation by credit card here. They're teaming up with Petco, where you can make donations in-store or online.

There are plenty of other places that are helping, too. If you know of some, please add a comment with the details.

Mobile Home Madness

Short but amusing article from USA Today on mobile homes in Malibu, California selling for significantly more than $1 million:

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom mobile home perched on a lot in Malibu is selling for $1.4 million. This isn't a greedy seller asking a ridiculous amount no one will pay.

Two others sold in the area recently for $1.3 million and $1.1 million. Another, at $1.8 million, is in escrow. Nearby, another lists for $2.7 million.

(via Dan Pink)

True, and well-packaged

Great soundbyte from Thomas Friedman from his Wired interview:

When I was growing up, my parents told me, "Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving." I tell my daughters, "Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job."

Compare and Contrast

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has named Seattle the most livable large city (population greater than 100,000) for 2005. Which sounds impressive until you learn that Trenton, NJ was named the most livable city with population fewer than 100,000. Ahem.

"Oh, my gosh, they're talking about my burrito."

Several people have sent me this story in the past hour.

Please note that I am not an eighth grader from Clovis, New Mexico, doing an extra credit project about a restaurant specializing in "oddly large burritos" (although they sound quite tasty).

CC and iTunes

I recently discovered that the awesome Commonwealth Club of California puts some of its lectures on iTunes, for just under two dollars each. The Commonwealth Club draws some amazing speakers -- just looking at a few upcoming events shows everyone from Jack Welch (disturbing head shot) to Chuck D -- so having the lectures available on iTunes is wonderful. When I checked earlier this week, though, there were only about twenty lectures on iTunes -- perhaps they're seeing what the demand will be?

Update: Hold on! Poking around on their website, I found out that the they have archives of their lectures (going back to 2001) available for streaming.

Sign of the (disturbing) times

The lead story in this morning's business section of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was an AP article on the 40th anniversary of Moore's law. At the end of the article, you'll see a section entitled "The Law of Silicon Valley" where Moore's original observation is quoted. What's listed as the source? "Wikipedia.com."

Is it possible that the author, and his editors, couldn't be bothered to check the original source on a forty year-old topic? Is the Wikipedia the best available, most definitive source? I would expect a high school English teacher would reject that citation, let alone the editors of the AP. Of course, given that they didn't even get the website of the citation right -- Wikipedia is a dot-org, not a dot-com -- why should we believe that they did their homework anywhere else?

Scratch Tracks

This is genius -- a Washington state lottery scratch-off game for iPods. You know you've made it when your product is more appealling than money.

"Hella rock," as they might say

This photo of a boulder that rolled into a road in Malibu, California is unbelievable. It looks photoshopped. Imagine coming around the bend and seeing that!

For the breeders in the audience

An article from the Seattle Times on the growing trend of celebrities giving their children so-called "creative" names. My favorite: Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.