Nerdify-ing charity.

Well, back home from Seaside.  Sorry, no pictures, we were there for a much shorter time, and I kept forgetting to get my camera out.  Besides, it was HOT, even at the coast (which is unusual), and the beach-people.  The stores-people.  Lewis and Clark-more people!  I don't know if I could have taken a picture without it looking as if they were in a flash mob! Yoiks and a half!

So, the charity part?  I have been reading through the journals of Lewis and Clark, and there was a part where they talk about Christmas gifts.  (In fact, it's where I got the idea of socks to show by the statue, they commented about giving socks as presents.)  Well, my inner Nerd started going into overdrive.  So, how many actually were there... I first thought it was 59, (60 if you count the dog), but the folks that actually came to the ocean (O, the joy!), were 32 or so, if I read correctly.

I like to do something charitable for Christmas, and this just made me think.  I should do a present for each member of the crew.  NOT handmade, necessarily, but I was thinking, something...  Oh, like, if one was a hunter, a warm hat.  One did scouting, socks.  Then we have the baby, I will have to see how old he was during the winter at the coast, but a coat or bunting.  A nice scarf for York.  A blanket, or shawl for Sacagawea.  And, for the pup, some dog food?

So, after putting this all together, then what?  Well, a donation, or maybe more than one.  I know that there are several local charities that could use these kind of donations, even my local vet accepts dog food, for low income folks that have pets.

Therefore, I think I will put up a Corps of Charity widget on the side of my blog, and see if I can fill it by Christmas.  Or even before.  But, it will be kind of neat to read up on some of the folks. I've trod in some of the same places they have, and now I can see if I can repay them, in a manner of speaking, for opening history to me.

(But, reality is reality, not all the Corps are getting hand made goodies...  A few, but not all.  All will get gifts, however.  More in future blogs.  Yes, I am crazy, why do you keep asking that?)

A "cabin fever" walk, and a serious note on donating.

Went for a walk up the hill today.  It hasn't rained for, oh, 6 to 10 hours, so we didn't have the water running down the hill in a creek.  So I figured it was ok.  And going UP the hill, it was.  However, when I reached the top, there were ponds, puddles, and the UPPER creek was running.  I was already up there, and decided, darn it, I want to walk.  So I did walk, a little.  If hopping over puddles, fording small creeks, and trying not to swamp myself with water counts as walking...  I made it to the 4th lap, before the combination of my ankle acting up, (I think I Tae Bo'd too much yesterday), and the difficulty of staying upright in ankle deep water made me a bit timid, I guess. 

But the thing that ended the merry game, was Rudee.  The neighbor dogs, as usual, started barking once they saw us.  They ran to the fence, and Rudee ran over.  Next thing I know, he's on the OTHER SIDE, running with the other dogs!  I got out my "p****d drill seargent" voice (Thank you for the term, FIL), and called Rudee back.  I wasn't angry at him, just didn't want him to run over to the neighbor's, after all the problems I have had with said neighbors keeping their dogs home!

So, I think I have finally got to admit, I shouldn't walk for a bit, at least laps.  I will still take Rudee out, but we might just wander around the lower pasture, or up and back a few times, because when I need water wings, it's just too wet.  Tae Bo...  Well, at least it's fun, even if I can't have Rudee work out with me.

However.

On the bright side, I hadn't been able to figure out how the dratted mutts kept coming over.  Now I know.  I am planning on bringing up some T-posts and putting them in the way of the hole.  They are diggy little snots, I will put posts there, and the little suckers can dig away.  Hopefully the posts will fall on them!  Then they can check if they have carbide teeth, otherwise, they will have to dig a new hole through the fence.  I suppose I should do it today, we shall see, my ankle is uncomfortable, might be tomorrow.  It will be done, however, now that I know where the hole is, I don't want to make the way easy for either side's dogs.

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 And, I don't know if anyone reading is wanting to donate online, but a gent from the SO sent over this article, if you are thinking of donating, you might do some reasearch...  This is from Watch Guard Security.

Unfortunately, it almost goes without saying in this day and age; when some big event or unfortunate disaster happens, scummy malware pushers will jump all over it in hopes of enticing the news hungry masses to malicious sites and downloads. This unfortunate trend hasn’t failed to disgust me yet again with Japan’s recent earthquake and nuclear catastrophes.


Within hours of the first earthquake, scammers had already launched malicious campaigns to lure the worried global audience to phising sites masquarading as aide sites, and had also started massive spamming campaigns targeting donors who want to help Japan.

One of the techniques attackers increasingly use in these situations is called Black Hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is a technique where attackers leverage the same SEO methods marketers use to get their web sites to prominently display with certain search results; only the attacker falsely links popular search phrases to a malicious site. Attackers are aggressively leveraging these Black Hat SEO techniques to tie their malicious phishing sites to the Japanese earthquake disaster. So you should definately be careful when searching for earthquake news on Google and other search engines.
 I have a strong personal tie to Japan. I lived there for four years in the 80s, when I was younger. Many of my childhood memories are distinctly Japanese. So when I hear about these despicable criminals trying to make a buck off a country’s pain… well, I can’t really put to words how angry I feel. That’s why I want to make sure these crooks don’t succeed. As you receive email about the Japan disaster, or search for the latest information, please be wary of the links you click. While I encourage you to help out in some way, you should also be careful of who you are donating to. Finally, tell all your friends about these potential scams. If we all band together, maybe we can prevent these hoodlums from profiting from Japan’s pain. – Corey Nachreiner, CISSP


http://watchguardsecuritycenter.com/2011/03/16/scummy-attackers-preying-on-japanese-disaster-for-a-buck/

 


So, please don't let scum suckers win, donate, but be careful!  One way to avoid fake sites, type in the name of the place you want to donate, ON YOUR OWN.  You can use a search engine (i.e. Google) too, just make sure you have https  on the donation portion of your web page.  (The "s" part stands for secure.)  Or, you can always go "old school" and donate by mail, or through a charity you know and trust by other means.

Not an expert, just something that tripped my trigger.

Thanks!