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January 9th, 2005
05:46 am - snow report IV: slow news day
Yes, it's snowing again. But fairly steadily, and there appears to be some faint build-up on the road, at least on the less traveled one at the side of the house here.
Right this minute it's coming down rapidly the way rain usually does: vertical and implacable. Of course, even if there is some accumulation now, at 5 a.m., it could easily warm up and disappear by the time a reasonable hour of the morning rolls around.
Yesterday was pleasantly mellow. Breakfast at Luna Park, then the afternoon spent playing games and hanging out with  faintheart, amnotsurly, and grouchychris. I got home around 8 p.m. and went upstairs to hang out with the cat, and fell asleep until 1 a.m. or so.
I turned on the radio around then, and it was during the time that KUOW relays the BBC World Service. Interestingly enough, what was being broadcast was sort of an online brochure about public health, clean water and water-borne diseases (cholera, diphtheria, etc.) by Doctors Without Borders. Very informative and straightforward, and I was reminded of one of the reasons I really like the BBC - they broadcast useful things like that, and language lessons, and so forth. Yes, they have some odd shows like the one where people from all over the world write in requesting songs, resulting in the strangest mish-mash of a playlist that's even more surreal at three in the morning, but even that has its amusement value.
The best thing about the DWB piece was it was informative without sounding like a lecture, and without sounding like the authors assumed you were clueless or brain-dead. It was very clear about things like wash your hands, & use soap and ways to purify possibly contaminated water (boil it, or put it in a translucent container in the full sun for a day - the combined light/heat/UV will apparently zap most fecal-borne pathogens) but all in the context of describing the various aftereffects of disaster. A refreshing change from most of the domestic products of a purportedly similar nature I've encountered.
As an aside, if you are looking for somewhere to donate toward relief, Doctors Without Borders (as rjl20 mentioned) is an excellent choice. They have also been working in so many of the other crisis areas of the world - Sudan, DRC, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Haiti... So if, like me, you find yourself thinking yes, the tsunami wreaked horrible destruction, but what about all the other places where the disaster has been less sudden, less photogenic or less likely to involve a bunch of white tourists? you can comfort your cynical self by knowing your money will go toward helping people other places as well.
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