In past years I've liked Kiva gift certificates as holiday gifts. They avoid the deadweight loss of buying an actual gift, have the customizability of a gift card, and people can choose whether to lend the money out or just withdraw it and spend it.
But I'm annoyed by their new policy which says basically if you let money sit there too long, they're going to appropriate it as a "gift" to Kiva. This only happens under the following narrow circumstances, namely when a lender:
For many Kiva Lenders, the best part about lending is re-lending; $25 can be used to help multiple entrepreneurs over time.Some lenders haven't caught onto this part of the lending process, and funds from loan repayments are sitting idle in their Kiva Accounts, neither re-loaned nor withdrawn ... It seems a shame to us. Unused Kiva credit sitting idly in the system isn't helping entrepreneurs in the developing world
Part of why this annoys me is that I recently tried to make some loans and was unable to. Each time the loan would show up first as needing money then as fully subscribed. I actually wasted an hour on this. There were other loans that needed money, but they weren't the loans that I was interested in making, so I let my money ride.
I think it's good that Kiva is selective about the organizations it partners with, and understand that sometimes they'll have more money than loans to fill. But then why take the money from me?
I don't think I'll be giving more money to Kiva any time soon. The only question I have is whether I'll be pulling my current money out now, or turning it over and letting it ride once more.
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| Microcredit | Microlending
A NYC food blog of small ethnic eateries. Great photos, evocative text.
Would it have helped African Americans today if their forefathers had been given the land promised? An economist says yes.
"60% of sensory experience of drinking espresso comes from the retail environment!" It's the smell, stupid.
Yet another reason why torture is bad for national security. Or, the segment in which I agree again with Andrew Sullivan and find myself wondering if either of us has a goatee ...
"Al Qaeda continues to have a deep interest in acquiring weapons of mass destruction... I can trace the story of a sernior terrorist operative telling how Iraq provided training in these weapons to al Qaeda. Fortunately, this operative is now detained and he has told his story."The man who spoke those words was Colin Powell at the UN. The "operative", we now know, was Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libbi. He was waterboarded and given Bush-approved hypothermia treatment, i.e. frozen till he could take it no longer. It was only then that he told of al Qaeda's links with Saddam's WMDs... the CIA subsequently found al-Libbi "had no knowledge of such training or weapons and fabricated the statements because he was terrified of further harsh treatment." So I now realize that part of the reason I believed the WMD case for war against Saddam was because the Bush administration had been secretly torturing suspects and got false confessions. The biggest intelligence failure in recent US history - the WMD case in Iraq - was partly created by the torture policy. [Link]
Andrew Sullivan lays it down on torture. I wish our presidential candidates would speak out as clearly and unequivocally
First: I do not believe that torture does save people's lives, because I do not believe it gives us reliable intelligence and because the use of it historically leads to its becoming the primary method of intelligence gathering, and so undermines our extreme need to develop better intelligence gathering, especially human intelligence... And I do not trust those in power who tell me otherwise, because there is no check on them whatsoever, no oversight that they have not cheerfully avoided, and any admission of guilt on their part would lead to war crime prosecution...posted this | this entry's link | 3 commentsBut secondly: yes, I do think that in a choice between legalizing torture and the loss of American lives, I would choose the loss of American lives, including my own.
This is not righteous victimhood. It is righteous self-defense. There are some things worse than avoiding all casualties in warfare. One of those things is abandoning the core meaning of what a country and a civilization stand for. If America does not stand against the torture of individuals seized without due process by an unchecked executive power, then American stands for nothing. In fact, if this standard had applied two centuries ago, America would not exist at all... To destroy the constitution, the rule of law, and habeas corpus and to legalize torture in the false hope of saving lives is the action of those who do not understand freedom and who do not understand America. It is the action of cowards and slaves.
What part of "Live Free Or Die" do these people not understand? [Link]
| Constitution | National Security State | Torture
Stills from the cheesy TV Batman with captions from Frank Miller's Dark Knight. It's a scary combination.
I just tried out my first compact fluorescent bulb because I had to replace one that died, had no incandescents at home, and these were on sale 2 for 1 (still $3 each). I figured I would use my green to be green. But I'm afraid this is going to be like the low flow shower or the low flow toilet - "advances" I can't get behind.
For one thing, "Daylight" is actually blueish-white. I had no idea, and I can't say I like it very much. Reminds me of old school flurorescent lights , except without the flicker. But even if I did like it, there's another problem, which is it stands out when the other lamps are incandescent. This means that all the bulbs in a room all have to be the same type. Ugh. In this case I have two tall lamps on either side of my desk - one has a 100 watt incandescent while the other has a "75 watt" CFLB. The contrast is quite apparent. I suppose I might give in and swap the other bulb out, but it's not clear I like the color very much.
Use baby talk instead. Of course, this will result in Americans sounding even stupider when they talk to foreigners. Now it wont just be slow and loud English, it'll be slow loud baby talk English ...
Libertarians ask why do taxpayers have to pay for the repair of the MN bridge when MN has enough money to spend hundreds of millions on non-essential services like baseball subsidies for wealthy business owners.
... you have to wonder what makes this a federal responsibility. The typical excuse is that the state can't afford such pricey projects, so it behooves the federal government to step in to help... Washington appears set to provide about $250 million to Minneapolis for a new bridge.Continue reading "Baseball > Bridges" »Whatever Minnesota's spending constraints, the state can apparently afford to spend hundreds of millions for corporate welfare to Carl Pohlad, the owner of the Minnesota Twins, for a new baseball stadium. Hennepin County, where the bridge is located, recently passed a new .15 percent sales tax solely to pay for Pohlad's new stadium.
"Negroogle, The Affirmative Action Search Engine... It should have "reparations" automatically queued in the search box also" It's humor, and hard to explain, so just click through. [Link]
1,500 plus CPDRC inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines at practice, performing "Thriller". They're actually quite good.
A nice explanation of face blindness by analogy, written by a face blind individual.
The New Yorker Fiction Out Loud, as podcast, along with discussion with another author concerning what they like about the story.
I don't know why, but I find food pr0n far more interesting than real estate pr0n. Part of it has to do with the fact that the food pr0n I view is produced by amateurs, real people cooking up real food. Earlier I posted about Lunch in a Box, from there I found this collection of tupperware bento lunches . They are fun to look at and probably more fun to eat, but at the same time they still come across as the talented chef next door making lunch. Mmmm .... lunch.
My keyboard just came crashing to the ground, hitting some keys at random, and opening up this page.
Division on the grounds of lack of unity This is a process for which there is no provision in the Patent Law, and which is dealt with according to the rules of the Zivilprozeßrecht (Code of Civil Procedure) (Section 145 ZPO). Up to 1980 the procedure and time limits were set in accordance with the DPA's guidelines determined by decisions of the courts. Since 1981 the DPA has dealt with division in accordance with the new Section 39 of the Patent Law (see point 2 below). A Federal High Court decision of 10 July 1986 (X ZB 29/84) found that Section 39 was not applicable.
Do you think it has a deep and hidden meaning?
While the number is horrifyingly large, I'm kind of entranced by the fact that his weight made consecutive numbers in pounds. More interesting than if he had been 1308 lbs at his peak. Oh - and he's hoping to set a new record, to go from the world's heaviest man to the man who has lost the most weight.
Fujiya & Miyagi Ankle Injuries. [via Manish]
