Author: MK

I’ve come across some Oprah-bashing in the blogosphere (and elsewhere) lately, because of the new school she launched in South Africa that I mentioned in my slightly over-earnest but otherwise benign New Year’s post below.

I’d like to clarify my Oprah endorsement a little. Oprah’s not perfect, and her school is probably imperfect, too, but for the love of Lenny can we reserve our precious bile for other celebrities who are far more evil and don’t even have pretentions towards philanthropy? Being critical is good. Being over-critical, to the point where no person or venture is good enough, results in analysis paralysis. It takes nerve to get out of endless analysis and give something a try.

All that said, I will admit I still cannot find room in my heart to forgive Oprah for introducing the truly horrifying Dr. Phil to her millions of viewers.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming…

So, the thrillingly un-climactic flip of the calendar page has taken place, and we are now in a new year. (Well, not quite for those who follow other calendars, it must be noted).

It is a pleasant, though slightly artificial, time to take stock of things and the practice of making resolutions is definitely a good exercise. I’ve commented before on the usual self-improvement resolutions we are all making, and as usual I browse myGoals.com to see what this year’s most popular resolutions are. Though it is surely a flawed analysis (how many people divulge their resolutions to myGoals.com?), the top three for this year don’t surprise me, either:

#1 – To Lose Weight
#2 – To Start My Own Business
#3 – To Pay Off Debt

These are all worthy goals on one level or another, but notably, year after year, goals such as “spend more time volunteering” or “become more of a philanthropist” are absent from myGoals.com and also other casual mentions I come across on the net. A minute fraction on myGoals.com make resolutions about “Community”. None of the financial goals represented reflect an interest in philanthropy or ethical investing.

It’s easy to leave the part about giving back to others out of your plans. It’s almost reflexive to look out for yourself, and forget that you are part of a much larger system. I have resolved that amid my personal goals for this year, there will also be significant plans to give back to my community, and I remain hopeful that others are doing the same.

It’s simple, really. If you have money but no time, there are plenty of worthy causes to donate money to. There is a cause that strikes everyone personally. Give money to a local heart foundation, cancer foundation, or other health organization. Sadly, every family and circle of friends is touched by illness, so choose an organization where you might meaningfully donate in the name of a friend or family member. If you cannot think of an organization in your area that deserves your money, consider donating even a small amount to Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy Foundation. This foundation recently launched an academy for girls from deprived backgrounds in South Africa. Amounts as small as $100 USD will get a girl a uniform or a musical instrument.

If you are interested in the idea of donations to charity but don’t think you have the money, consider famous chef Graham Kerr’s approach. He proposes what he calls a “double benefit“, wherein you find an unnecessary cost in your life, and eliminate it. Subsequently, you donate that saved money to a charity of your choice. You live smarter, and someone else lives better. As Graham says – it is a double benefit!

If you have time, but not money, consider giving a few hours from time to time to a local organization. Over the years, I have spent time feeding the elderly, befriending the disabled, and teaching technology skills. Each and every experience was very rewarding, so I feel completely confident personally recommending volunteering your time. I am combing Volunteer Centre Edinburgh for opportunities to invest my spare time in 2007. If you live here, take a look at their site, and if you don’t, simply Google “volunteering + [your city]”. You will surely get pages and pages of results.

All the best for a happy, peaceful, and productive 2007.
Michelle

Has anyone else noticed that their usual stock market spam is getting a lot prettier?

(What a silly question – of course you have noticed – if the stuff makes it to your inbox and into the viewing pane of your email reader.)
In all seriousness:

It’s almost beautiful, wouldn’t you say? And so distorted that it doesn’t function as a visual advertisement, as such. Though I’d never actually click on it to find out what dismal corner of the internet it would cast me to, I can admire its aesthetic qualities safely in the window of my email reader. Perhaps there is some actual art to be made with these visually alluring spams, much like the poetry created by people who mashed up the ridiculous language commonly found in spam, creating a form known as flarf (which, of course, is a contested term and questionable genre). Also, it has been noted that it seems like the spammers themselves are out to create a kind of poetry in the first place. Perhaps following the Spam Shelley, we have Spam Seurat.

Two afflictions of the Web 2.0 age (one not so bad, one truly annoying):

First, the not so bad:

Twittering – Constantly typing tiny updates about mostly insignificant things into a little box for your friends and/or the general public to see using a Web 2.0 application called Twitter. Twittering is generally fueled by a combination of restlessness, narcissism, and the irresistable allure of a moderate challenge (what intelligent/witty statement can I cram into 151 characters?) Of course I suffer from this one, but my updates are not public. If you are a Twitterer yourself, feel free to add me as a friend.

And the truly annoying…
RSS burp – An RSS burp is the inevitable result when someone creates a blog post, and then proceeds to make continual, tiny adjustments to it after it has been published. As a result your RSS feed reader shows it as unread. So you click on it… the author makes another tiny, imperceptible update… your feed reader updates again… you click again (because unread items are a visual nag)… repeat the cycle several times, each time swearing to unsubscribe from that blog (or at the very least, drop the author an email asking them to cut out the RSS burping).