Update: decided to bump this to the top of the page.  People need help.

   A bunch of email is still sitting unopened; my apologies to
folks I haven’t replied to lately.  Still, most of this site’s best stuff
is sent in by you guys, at least when I can get around to checking it out.

    Andy B., who has done considerable relief work
himself in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, shares suggestions re charities in
the wake of the Java earthquake, both specific to the event and more
general.  I can’t vouch for perfection here, but I’m sure he knows a
boatload more than I do.  I paraphrase a bit for brevity:

    Since World Vision apparently has a bit of a specific-god missionary rep, he also suggests for others of a slightly different god bent the Church World Service, ADRA , CRS/CARITAS, and LWS, depending on how your own god bends.  He also suggests a number of European groups, among them: Merlin, Malteser, GOAL, and Concern.

    Meanwhile, Atlas Logistique
transports stuff for other good guys, so they’re a way of hitting the
relief infrastructure, if you will.  For shelter projects, he
recommends the International Organization for Migration.  Let’s also not forget the International Rescue Committee and the American Refugee Committee.

   
If you go for more capitalist solutions, setting folks up with small
businesses that are intended to make relief self-perpetuating and
profitable, check out Population Services International or other groups you can Google under “social marketing.”

   
Andy also points out that there’s a big diff between short-term relief
and long-term development work, and that sometimes in a crisis the
former tends to get all the play, when the latter needs support just as
much.  Good point.  So aim accordingly.

    Finally, if you ever have a yen to run off to someplace that could really use your time, check out Relief Web, which has a job board and everything.

    Sorely tempting, I must say. 

    The quake scoreboard, so far: 6200 dead, 30,000 injured, 200,000 made homeless.

    Want to help?  Go to it.

    Thanks.

    If you’ve noticed the site running faster lately, that’s the work of webmaster Colin and the fine folks at Islandnet.com, who are climbing around in the hull of the ship with prop wrenches and spanners while guys in red shirts and boots trot around on Red Alert, all because I got cranky the other day while freaking out about being ready for the traffic that might be coming when the book comes out in a couple of months.

    There’s a lot more to do

    This link will only work today, so click right now to see what’s so amusing.

    UPDATE: here’s what I was referring to, in Amazon’s daily list of books by their order in sales.  The new book was exactly one place ahead of an old book by somebody I used to criticize pretty roundly, something that just looked pretty damn strange when they appeared on the same page:

    And yes, I do think that is a very hard choice, but the price, I think. . . the price is worth it.

    (If you don’t catch the reference, clickityclikkikikickit.)

    My friend Neil Innes just breezed through town the other night.  He and the band gave a terrific show, and I’ve been humming the melodies for days.  The tour’s over by now, but if you ever do get the chance, go.  If the Monty Python, Rutles, and Bonzos stuff don’t do it for you, and his more recent solo tunes don’t climb into your head to live, you are clinically dead.

    Keep an eye on this young man.  I see big things ahead. 

    PS: I have several friends, acquaintances, and mere objects of admiration who have great projects out of late, and when I get a minute I’m gonna try slapping a Recommended Stuff module over on the right.  When I get around to it.  Neil’s show was my weekly trip out of the house.  Amazing thing

    If you click on Espa