Kiva. Lend someone some money. They use that money to better themselves and you get the money back. I’ve made over 70 loans and haven’t lost a penny. And now you get to give out $25 to someone, you get to see how big a change lots of $25 makes. This sounds like an ad – and it is but it’s from me and I really want you to try this. What’s the cost? Time – as long as it takes to decide who to give the money to – that’s all. So click and try it: http://kiva.org/invitedby/markx2
There are now some prettier images at kiva for the what where and why of loaning. My loaning more to females is deliberate as is loaning to the Phillipines / Cambodia and other countries there.
You should loan at kiva.
This image is taken from http://www.terena.org/webcam/.
There is a bright blue object near the centre of the picture. It wasn’t there yesterday, it will disappear late Sunday / early Monday. It’s a toilet. More specifically it is a urinal.
So of an evening after much beer men can use that instead of a street corner or the river. Must feel odd the first few times you use it (I nearly said flip it out in public) but it is also a really good idea. And it really is a toilet – watch and see the body language used later. At no other time anywhere do men use those positions. As my wife says though – what about the women?
I’m sitting in a english village and yet I can lend directly to someone halfway around the world. I – and every other Kiva lender – can help people to help themselves, to improve their life and those of those around them.
I think that is amazing.
I just passed the 50 loan mark at Kiva hence this post and I look forward to my 100th.
Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.
On a human level, anyone who can recite whole sections of Monty Python and the Holy Grail by heart is all right with me.
Muddle on, Mr President, that’s the best option | Andrew Sullivan – Times Online.
Describing the “abominable events” as linked to one individual case, Austria’s Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said he planned to launch an image campaign to restore the country’s reputation abroad. BBC
So a guy does a terrible thing, there is a lot of news and they plan to spend a stack of cash to make us think Austria is wonderful place.
a government-appointed international commission of six historians investigating his wartime service said that it found no proof that Waldheim himself committed war crimes. But it also made clear that his record was far from unblemished. The panel declared that Waldheim was in “direct proximity to criminal actions”.
The report said that Waldheim knew about German army atrocities in the Balkans and never undertook any action to prevent or oppose them. Times.
So another guy does terrible things an order of magnitude greater than the one above. He actually runs Austria. Do they tell him to stand down? No. Do they force him out? No. Do they support him in getting the position on UN chief? Yes. Do they spend a single penny making us think Austria is a cuddly place? No.
So the lesson for Austrians who are keenly aware of global PR campaigns is this: kill thousands. Oh yes, and then get elected there. It works!