April 15, 2010
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The Daily Newshttp://www.nowpublic.com/world/earthquake-china-how-can-you-help-qinghai-earthquake-victims-2605596.htmlhttp://www.redcross.org.cn/ywzd/
1 The first link above gives a brief overview of the devastation in the Qinghai province of China, as well as several different places to donate. Locally, the Red Cross of Silicon Valley suggests donating directly to the second link for quickest response.2 As of this morning, the death toll has approached 700, and that is sure to climb as more bodies get pulled out of the rubble. Besides rescue efforts, they also will be in need of medical supplies, medical personnel, food, housing, clothing, blankets (they are experiencing freezing temperatures at night), as well as prayers and donations from different organizations. Access to the quake zone proper is tough: the closest city with an airport is Xining, which is located 530 miles away, requiring at least a twelve-hour drive. It is a poor region that is located 13,000 feet above sea level. Most of the buildings have collapsed, so relief efforts are critical.
3 Any time something of this magnitude occurs, stories come in from all over, and facts can change rapidly. I included the two links above because it the Now Public article was brief, to the point, and included some key links for donations. I included the second link because the Red Cross of Silicon valley suggested donating directly to the Red Cross Society of China.
4 Please help in any way you can.
5 Moving on, Part One: It's interesting how something of that magnitude can put a lot of other things in their proper perspective. Still, if you are a Sharks' fan, last night HAD to hurt. Losing a game like that is always going to cause a little pain. Fear not; the bold always manage to get there, and this years' Sharks do have the experience. Let's just see how it plays. I think the Sharks should do it.
6 Moving on, Part Two: This DN was written between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. yesterday due to the Sharks' game (once it was over I hit the hay!) and the news coming out of China. In the middle of writing, my computer decided on its own to shut down for updates. When it resumed, the DN had disappeared. Normally I save as I tack away, but I was jumping around trying to find details about the quake, and somewhere, everything vanished.
7 That's always a pleasure, as one can well imagine.
8 I had some piece about the proper way to eat a banana, something brought up to me a little over a month ago by my daughter Caitlin. She informed me that monkeys open bananas not from the stem, but from the bottom. Instead of busting a banana in two, one could quite daintily open it by pinching the tip of the bottom and then peeling.
9 It's funny because I tried it and it SEEMED better. Who'd know better than a monkey is the thinking, right?
10 I actually reasoned that monkeys aren't any smarter than we, at least I sure HOPE they're not, and that we are MUCH neater in our dainty handling of bananas.
11 Since I started working out, I have been bringing a banana and an orange to school each day, rather than making a huge lunch. Each time I stare at the banana, I stop, and then I open it from the bottom, this after spending a lifetime opening bananas from the stem.
12 Interestingly, or not, the same thing happened to me when I was in high school. Someone showed me how to peel an orange all in one stroke. It seemed gentler, and somehow less painful to the orange. This was "back in the days", when fruit was considered to have had feelings. Nobody gave a fuck-all about bananas, but we were all very peaceful with oranges.
13 AnywayZ...
14 I think the point I was making was that I had been going off about bananas and peeling them like monkeys and all when the computer shut itself off and so I lost the first edition of this DN.
15 Ah, vell. It's all a bit water under the proverbial bridge at this hour.
16 With that, I think I'm going to make an attempt at going to sleep. I'm a world-class insomniac, usually awakening somewhere from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. And when I DO get back to sleep, my dog Phoebe shakes herself, clicks across the floor and barks in my ear, usually around 4:20 a.m.
17 I often refer to her as "4:20" just because of that.
18 It's just about 4 a.m. right now, so I won't wait for it. I'll just hope that somehow she forgets. She's around 800 in dog years.
19 Anyway, give a thought to our human family in China, don't worry too much about the Sharks, and don't get too schizo over fruit. It's just fruit. Open a banana any way you want. You save utterly no time opening it like a monkey, and who wants to deal with monkey business at lunch time anyway?
20 We'll see you next time.
21 Peace.
~H~
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