I just found this out and decided to pass it on:

Coinstar allows you to donate your spare change directly to the Red Cross and other charities from their machines.

You can find the nearest machine that allows donations on their website: [link]

Link to and story about a remarkable Katrina Disaster Wiki which tries to pin down localized facts via citizen input.

We have been discussing chipping in for gifts for -t, who survived the hurricane okay, but is currently on route to California for an indefinite stay with her folks.

I tried to sum up everything as best I could here: Perkins "Spike's Bitches 26: Damn right I'm impure!" Sep 2, 2005 5:16:37 pm PDT . If you are interested in chipping in, please stop by.

I promise we won't TMI anyone who does so.

Okay, I know I can't make that promise, but please stop by anyway.

Apparantly this is a blog from NO actual time

[link]

Results from the Vote:
1. We should have a new thread that covers Fall TV (covering new series that debut in September or October) and it should have the following spoiler policy:

a) No whitefont at all. ever.
YES: 17
NO: 37
NO PREFERENCE: 2
NO VOTE CAST: 1

b) Whitefont (with show title in black font) for 7 days. Then fade to black.
YES: 21
NO 30
NO PREFERENCE 4
NO VOTE CAST: 2

c) Whitefont (with show title in black font) current season discussion.

YES: 9
NO: 40
NO PREFERENCE: 4
NO VOTE CAST: 4

d) Whitefont (with show title in black font) all the time.

YES: 5
NO: 44
NO PREFERENCE: 4
NO VOTE CAST:4

2. We should have a new Natter TV thread (covering all tv series - new and continuing that aren't covered in separate threads) and it should have the following spoiler policy:

a) No whitefont at all. ever
YES: 11
NO: 38
NO PREFERENCE: 6
NO VOTE CAST: 2

b) Whitefont (with show title in black font) for 7 days. Then fade to black.
YES: 22
NO: 26
NO PREFERENCE: 7
NO VOTE CAST: 2

c) Whitefont (with show title in black font) current season discussion.
YES: 11
NO: 34
NO PREFERENCE: 9
NO VOTE CAST:3

d) Whitefont (with show title in black font) all the time.

YES: 7
NO: 40
NO PREFERENCE: 7
NO VOTE CAST: 3

Posted earlier to Great Write Way, but I realized not everyone reads that, so:

The inaugural issue of "The November 3rd Club," an online literary journal of political writing, is now live on the Web at [link] featuring the poetry, fiction and nonfiction of:

MARK AMES, TONY BROWN, JANE CASSADY, LEA C. DESCHENES, JERRY GARCIA, THERESA CECILIA GARCIA, ELIZABETH P. GLIXMAN, LIZ GONZÁLEZ, S.A. GRIFFIN, BOB HOEPPNER, JOSEPH HUTCHISON, RACHEL KANN, DAVID MACPHERSON, DANIEL MCGINN, RICHARD MODIANO, GABRIEL ROSENSTOCK, ELIZABETH ROSS, SKIP SHEA, JACKIE SHEELER, THOMAS R. SMITH, MARC SOLOMON, ELLA SPRINK, J.E. STANLEY, TODD SWIFT, FISH VARGAS, LAURA LEE WASHBURN and LENORE WEISS.

Brought to you by the editorial work of myself, Richard Beban, Ray McNeice, Michelle Ben-Hur, Carlye Archibeque and Sam Hamill, and the web mastery of Lea Deschenes.

Enjoy, tell us what you think and keep an eye out for our publication readings in Los Angeles, Worcester and elsewhere this October!

Free to a good home:

I have an extra hardback copy of Alastair Reynolds' Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (two novellas in one volume, both take place in the Revelation Space-verse). Email me at my profile addy and it's yours for the price of shipping.

If anyone would like to send items to the refugees in the Astrodome and other Houston locations, you can mail them to the St. Vincent De Paul store located at 5236 Cedar St., Bellaire, TX 77401. They are accepting everything on this list except food.

If you want to donate $$$ to the Red Cross for hurricane relief, here are some donation-matching foundations/businesses that caught my eye:

The Barry Manilow Fund is actually giving double of what people contribute -- the fund itself matches the donation, and then, according to the website, Barry himself is matching the donation. So $1 = $3 thanks to the dude who writes the songs that make the whole world sing.

Whole Foods is matching in-store contributions, up to $1 million.

Amoeba Music is matching donations made at their stores. (Hec, time to go shopping!)

Best Buy is matching in-store contributions up to $1 million.

Peet's Coffee will match up to $25,000; donations go to the Red Cross, and you can donate online.

Lowe's will match total in-store contributions up to $2 million.