Thursday, December 2, 2010

Serious Charity FAIL

I hate to say it, but "I TOLD YOU SO!"

So far, as of today, they're still $800,000 short of their goal. Problems? Little advertisement beforehand, and a $10 donation limit. No tweet idea? Failure. The general public it hard-pressed enough as it is, but asking everyone to spend $10 on something that they could spend on food or gas is too much. I don't even have $10 to put in my gas tank, and pray every day that I can get to where I need to be on as little gas as possible. Suddenly "killing" your internet self and asking $10 from each person to be revived is not all that intelligent. Looks like people DO have some common sense. They're not going to give their food money to those with AIDS, who, unfortunately, are going to die anyway. Some people are selfish; others, like my family, really do need that money.

Just as predicted by me, the whole idea has been a huge flop. Poor things. Should've had a massive bake sale -- that would have produced more results, I think ;)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Serious Charity Action

Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Swizz Beats, Jennifer Hudson, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Janelle Monae, Ryan Seacrest, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Serena Williams, and Elijah Wood are all planning on participating in a campaign on Wednesday, World AIDS Day, called Keep a Child Alive. The method? Digital Life Sacrifice. That's right. Our beloved celebrities are signing off from Twitter until they collect $1million!
Wait.. I'm kind of confused. Sure, it's a good thing that they're participating in raising funds for charity.. but it seems they'll just become more famous through it (which is very unsurprising. Celebrities have been using excuses like this for centuries to become even more wealthy than they need to be). Advertisements of them lying in coffins to represent their separation, their death, from technology? Seriously?
Sure, you're tying to be nice. I get it. But... something less lame, next time? Oh, poor you, left without your tweets for who knows how long! Desperate fans can assure you, it won't take long at all. What ever will they do if they can't stare at Lady Gaga's page until she tweets? (Sorry, Gaga. :) I just picked a random name.)
I can promise anyone that the world is NOT going to end if they stay off Twitter for a bit. I've never even registered for Twitter. Facebook is enough of a stalker-friendly environment (Which I must admit, I have taken much advantage of). People are already making such a huge deal about it! "ZOMG! They're not going to be on Twitter AT ALL unless we donate $1 million!" Aren't there better ways to call attention to charities? Like actual sacrifices? Shaving heads for breast cancer, for example. Starting a clothing, office supply, or personal hygiene line that donates a percentage of each sale to the charity. It's done all the time. You don't need to stand out to do something. Just DO it!
This also brings up a fine opportunity for me to mention the little gadget I have over here ----->
It doesn't require anything but your time. You can even go onto the site itself and choose your OWN charity to represent. Register, add me as a friend, and start earning points and donating minutes!
Also, if you want to do something more direct, check out http://www.freerice.com/. All you have to do is look at the bolded word, and attempt to select the word that it means from the list below. That's it. It's completely free, and each word you get correct donates 10 grains of rice. I love this one :) I can't tell you my profile info, though. Creepy stalkers ;)
So, what's your opinion? Is their No-Tweet idea really a good one? Does it come across to you as serious, or ridiculous, as it does me? With so many other options out there, you choose to let go of Twitter for a few hours? Pphft.

Happy Red Planet Day!


Wait... what? That's right. Today is Red Planet Day, in honor of Mars. It all began on November 28, 1964, when the Spacecraft Mariner 4 was launched on the first exploration to Mars. Astronauts didn't officially approach Mars until the following July, but that's just a technicality ;)

Big deal, it's just a pint-sized planet (half the size of the Earth) named after the Roman god of war due to its red coloring. Scientists have actually conducted searches on the planet for signs of life and water, some of which have proved successful. In case of the 2012 Apocalypse, Mars is where we plan to go. Unfortunately, although Mars is quite scenic with its huge mountain and bloodred coloring, the planet also hosts the craziest weather patterns in the solar system, regardless of what most people say. Our weather patterns are similar! Yeah, if we were locked in a perpetual hurricane AND tornado season. Not to mention Antarctic-like winters and Equator-style summers. And one of its moons is going to crash into it soon. But, WHATEVER! We love us some Mars!

I mean, it can't be all that bad. Theories suggest that the Egyptians and Mayans had contact with Martians. The pyramids were built as a sort of power source for our friendly extraterrestrials. That HAS to be the only plausible explanation for why two different civilizations figured out pyramids and had the others' inscriptions on them, right? Their pathetic little rafts could not possibly ferry them across the Atlantic Ocean. But, if they could build pyramids with less equipment than we use to build houses anymore, then I'm pretty sure that their little boats had to have been quite successful. But aliens are a more interesting topic, yes?

Whatever there is in store for us on Mars, the most exciting thing I can imagine explaining to children is not "Why is the sky blue?" but rather, "Why is the sky pink?"