Also, donate blood.

After 9/11, the Red Cross was encouraging people to donate. They tossed thousands of gallons of blood. It went bad. They didn't need it. They just used the tragedy as a way to pump up the donor lists.

And as far as I know havent released all the funds they received for 9/11.

I'm just really bitter about the Red Cross for a wide variety of reasons.

Alias - damn Jack and Sloan and their cryptic and incomplete conversations!

I think I'm missing lots of backstory on Alias. Still, it's entertaining. I love that the opening credits didn't happen until 20 minutes in.

This is why I gave money to Medecins Sans Frontieres, who do not mess with people's heads, and who go to tragedies that aren't fashionable.

I've been thinking that maybe it would be nice to have an LJ community for asking food and cooking type questions, so I created one, called foodistas. I was thinking it could be a place to post great new recipes, or ask food questions, or recommend a new restaurant or whatever people want.

Here's the way I see tsunami donations:

Every year I try to give to world-poverty organizations. This year, the organizations are going to have the same set of problems to deal with they always have, plus the tsunami. It is going to cost more this year to provide basic medical care, because many of the places that need it don't have refrigerators or electric power or roads any more.

I need to give more overall because this is going to be a more expensive year overall.

Lee, there's already food_porn.

Hmmm, mysterioso. And Rick Yune ? Very pretty.

You know what is a terrible look? capri pants and boots.

Seriously. Why?

If it's cool enough to wear boots, it's too cold to wear capris.

I'm not going to argue in favor or against any particular organization, but I will say that extra money can still be used for good. The place I used to work got a ton of post-9/11 money that they used for counseling children and families who really needed it, but not because of 9/11 -- because of their lives. There was all this extra money floating around, and we could make the argument that even though these families weren't directly affected, it was just one more thing on top of a zillion others, and we got the money, because there was more than they knew what to do with.

Granted, there are a lot of places in the world where "extra" money would be less likely to go to something good. But there are organizations that you can know do all they can to make sure their resources are helping people.