Help Hollis Get Home
It’s something we don’t think about, but it could happen to any of us – or to our friends, siblings, siblings, children – traveling in a foreign country, injured in a accident, unable to get home for medical treatment.
That’s what happened to Hollis Hawthorne. I don’t know Hollis (known to her family as Holli), but saw details on a NY benefit on Facebook. One of the perks of having a blog is that it gives me an opportunity to add my voice when someone needs help spreading the word, to reach out to as many potential helping hands as possible. This is one of those situations.
This article in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, written by Hollis’s friend Molly Freedenberg , shares the story:
The 31-year-old dancer, artist, and activist was in a tragic motorcycle accident near Pondicherry on February 24, which left her with severe head injuries and in a coma. As of today, she is at Apollo Hospital in Chennai and still unconscious, though she’s finally breathing on her own. Her prognosis is still unknown.
Like many Americans, Hollis doesn’t have health insurance and had no travel insurance. Through miracles and the dedication of her community, including Dr. Susan Bailey of St. Luke’s Hospital, the American consulate is doing what they can to finance her care in India, and Stanford University has offered to take her on as a charity case once she’s back in the States. But it’s up to Hollis’s friends and family to raise the funds to transport her – a cost that could be as much as $200,000. read more
Play Games, Save Kitties (and puppies too!)
Earlier this year, I wrote about GiantCrayon’s newest iPhone game, ShiveringKittens. The Tetris-like game challenges you to rescue cute little kittens by breaking them free from blocks of ice.
A couple of things have happened since writing the review, the first of which prompted this post:
GiantCrayon Games today announced it will partner with the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) to raise money for animals through a first-of-its-kind promotion during March and April 2009. This is the first time an iPhone game has been used as lynchpin of a fundraising campaign. read more
Twitchhiker: Tweeting Around the World in 30 Days for Charity
This month’s Twestival showed the potential of harnessing Twitter’s power to rally the masses to raise money and awareness for a cause.
On March 1, we’ll get to see what happens when one person’s fate is left in the hands of these same masses – again with the goal of raising money and awareness for a cause.
Meet the Twitchhiker
The Twitchhiker is also known as Paul Smith. Paul used to “have a proper job in radio”, but now write about media for the Guardian, and blogs “about radio, TV and tech for several other websites”.
On March 1st, Paul will
attempt to travel as far around the world as possible in 30 days, relying only on the goodwill of people using Twitter.
His goal is to span the globe as far from his hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK as possible within the month. Paul has set his sites on New Zealand, since it is “closest to the opposite point on the planet” to his house. More specifically, the Twitchhiker’s true goal is located at 52.546° S 169.173° E, “an island barely five miles wide that’s so insignificant that Google can’t be bothered to name it”. read more
MacHeist: Strain Your Brain for Free Software
This post falls under the better-late-than-never category.
MacHeist3 kicked off just over three weeks ago, but there’s still time to sign up to get in on the fun and nab yourself some free software in the process.
Part Mac
MacHeist is website with a unique approach to reselling Mac OS shareware software. Created by John Casasanta, Phill Ryu, and Scott Meinzer (known collectively as “The Directorate“), the site periodically offers bundles of software for a price that is substantially discounted from the combined softwares’ standard retail prices (past bundles have cost around $50 and included 10-14 products, valued around $500).
A portion of the proceeds are donated to charity. To further encourage purchases, the bundles contain applications that will only be “unlocked” (license keys provided) once specified sales goals have been achieved. As additional incentive, participants who referred friends to the Heist received “bonus” software not included the standard bundle.
Part Heist
Several weeks before the latest bundle is released, the MacHeist Directorate transitions the website to reveal a series of “missions“. Participants are rewarded for successful completion with “loot”: software and/or discounts off the upcoming bundle. read more
So, What’s a Twestival?
Today, 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.
For those who may not have any idea what a Twestival is, it can most succinctly be explained as:
Twitter + festival = Twestival
The Twestival is very similar to a Tweetup (yes, more “Tw-” words!) in the sense that people from Twitter connect offline to network and socialize face-to-face.
The Twestival is more than a mere Tweetup though read more
