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i am a dreamer, an idealist, a creator, an introvert, a thinker, and an all-around neat person...if i do say so myself.

12 March 2009

convicted

an excerpt from an article called America's Shame by Peter Singer in the March 13th issue of The Chronicle Review:

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as not having enough income to meet the most basic human needs for adequate food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, health care, or education. One widely quoted statistic is tht a billion people are living on less than one U.S. dollar per day. That was the World Bank's poverty line until 2008, when better data led to a new poverty line of $1.25 per day. As a result, the number of people whose income puts them under the new poverty line is 1.4 billion.
On hearing the "$1.25 a day" figure, the thought may cross your mind that in many developing countries it is possible to live much more cheaply than in industrialized nations. But the World Bank has already made that adjustment in purchasing power, so those it classifies as living in extreme poverty are existing on a daily total consumption of goods and services - whether earned or homegrown - comparable to the amount of goods and services that can be bought in the United States for $1.25.
The 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty are likely to be hungry for at least a part of every year. Even if they can get enough food to fill their stomachs, they will probably be malnourished because their diet lacks essential nutrients. In children, malnutrition stunts growth and can cause permanent brain damage. The poor may not be able to afford to send their children to school. Even the most basic health-care services are usually beyond their means.
That kind of poverty kills. while life expectancy in rich nations averages 78 years, in the poorest nations - those classified by the United Nations as "least developed" - it is below 50. In rich countries, fewer than one child in 100 dies before the age of 5; in the poorest countries, one in five does. Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, estimates that nearly 10 million children under 5 die each year from causes related to poverty. That's 27,000 a day - a football stadium full of young children, dying every day (along with thousands of older children and adults who die from poverty every day as well). Some children die because they don't have enough to eat or clean water to drink. More die from measles, malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia - diseases that don't exist in developed nations, or if they do, are easily cured and rarely fatal.
the article made many assertions about foreign aid and the obligation of those living in the U.S. to contribute to do something about extreme poverty.
i found it to be extremely convicting.
how can i justify spending over $3 on a cup of coffee when 1.4 billion people around the world don't have enough to eat? how can i say that i need to spend money on another new pair of shoes when 1.4 billion people can hardly clothe themselves?

$1.25 a day.

i think i will look at how i spend my money a little differently now.
i have a feeling it can be used more effectively.

08 March 2009

video

so remember how back in august i said that micah and i had taken a ton of video on our road trip to portland and that i would be shortly posting a final edit of that video?
well, the wait is over!
it only took six months for me to put it all together.
that was mostly because windows based editing programs leave me swearing like a sailor.
i want a mac...


my journey to goodbye from elizabeth herrity on Vimeo.

i hope you like it.
or at least think it doesn't suck.

01 March 2009

reservations


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i enjoyed our group camping trip last october so much that i decided to put together another trip for this year. the plan had been to reserve a spot at Carpinteria State Beach sometime in july. but this last week i learned that you can't just decide in february that you want to go camping someplace that cool as soon as july. yes, it is completely booked 5 months in adavance. but wait, it gets better.
apparently the california state park system releases months to be open for reservation seven months in advance, on the first of that month. so if i wanted to reserve a spot in july, i would have to be on the website at 8 am on january 1st. (well actually the 2nd. they don't make reservations on new year's day.)
so since the next month to be made available was september, i decided to make a reservation at carpinteria for labor day weekend. i was up at 7:45 this morning, on my computer, on the reserveamerica.com website, hoping that my web connection was fast enough to secure me a campsite. i opened up the page for the beach, chose my site and my dates, and hovered over "reserve now" until my clock ticked 8am.
and i was victorious.
i will be camping on labor day weekend.

oh, and every single site at the beach was completely booked for that weekend by 8:09am.



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