www.freerice.com
At a time of year when we often eat, drink and be merry to excess, it’s sometimes hard to fathom that there are others in the world with little or nothing to eat.

And it’s far too easy to say there is nothing we can do as individuals about that sad fact of life beyond donating a dollar or two to one fund or another. There are, however, more imaginative examples of what one person can do to to contribute, and at the same time, involve others in the process.

Dismayed by the fact that there are many going without and even starving in our bountiful world, John Breen  of Bloomington, Indiana, created the  freerice.com Internet game online that promises to contribute ten grains of rice with each correct answer to a multiple-choice vocabulary question. After three correct answers, the player graduates to a higher difficulty vocabulary level — equaling 30 grains of rice per level. While 10 grains of rice is a tiny amount, the numbers add up quickly as more people hear about the game and participate.

Read the rest…

Gettysburg Address Day 323 of 2007 42 days left in this year

Everyone’s a Few Drinks Behind
November, 1954:

Outside acting, Bogart was a liberal, and was in the vanguard of Hollywood protesters, as he organized against the House Unamerican Activites Committee. In testimony before the McCarthy gang, he not only refused to answer questions, he excoriated the committee for its abhorrent display of abuse and power against powerless people. McCarthy told several people afterward he would never watch a Bogart film again, to which Bogart is reputed to have later said, “Was that a promise?”He met the love of his life, Lauren Bacall, on the film set of To Have and Have Not, in 1944. He was 44 and she was 19. He was worried about their age difference. She wasn’t. The meeting of the two characters on screen is quoted to this day. “You need me, whistle. You know how to whistle, Steve? You just put your lips together, and blow.”

Most people today think that Frank Sinatra started the “Rat Pack,” the group with Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, etc. In truth, it was Bogart who began a series of parties in the early 1950s, and which included Sinatra, along with Danny Kaye and John Houston. It was Bacall who named them; coming home from work one night she found them all drunk and laughing themselves silly on her living room floor. “If this isn’t the mangiest pack of rats I ever saw,” she said. To which Bogart is said to have replied, “Most of the world is a few drinks behind.”

They named their first boy Steve, after his character in the first movie they made together. At their wedding, he gave her a golden whistle, and when Bogart died, Bacall had it cremated with him.

Today, Lauren Bacall is 83.

National Family Week 322 of 2007 43 days left in this year

Mickey Mouse’s birthday.
November 18, 1928: Mickey Mouse was created 80 years ago by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks (voiced by Walt Disney). The Walt Disney Company celebrates his birth as November 18, 1928 upon the release of Steamboat Willie. The anthropomorphic mouse has evolved from being simply a character in animated cartoons and comic strips to become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world.

Take a Hike Day Day 321 of 2007 44 days left in this year

TURN YOUR HEAD AND COUGH (OR PUKE)
November 17, 2006:

During the debate over the new regulations, businesses, particularly bars and restaurants, howled at the disastrous impact the new law would have on their incomes, how they might have to lay off workers or even close for good.

As usual, none of this happened. A year later, business is good, no one got fired, and the air is a bit cleaner.According to healthyhawaii.com, smokers in Hawaii live an average of 14 years less than nonsmokers.

And speaking of bad habits, American corporations continue to hook their customers on  the world’s most addictive substance — nicotine — and profit from the hundreds of thousands of worldwide deaths their products cause annually. But it’s okay because we’re only addicted to “free market capitalism.”

Many people have heard the story of how certain older cultures caught a particular kind of monkey. The monkey’s favorite nuts were placed in a container, with a hole large enough for the monkey to put through his hand in order to get the nuts. But the hole was not large enough to allow free passage of a fist clutching nuts. Since the monkey would not let go, he was trapped. Read the rest…