Childsplaycharity.org
Penny Arcade is probably the world favourite blog of electronic gamers- they have a children's charity, Child's Play. It was set up because the guys at Penny Arcade were pissed that the media have repeatedly scapegoated the gaming industry for society's ills, everything from high school shootings to general malaise. Over the past three years CP has raised over $1million USD for toys, games and cash to be given to sick kids in children's hospitals around the world.
"With the help of hospital staff, we’ve set up gift wish lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital’s list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape. Imagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays, getting something from a fellow gamer would really raise their spirits. Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year."
Here's the link to Toronto's - it's an amazon.ca wish list for Sick Kids' Hospital. All you have to do is pick an item from the list, buy it and it will be delivered to the kid who asked for it in time for Christmas. What a terrific idea.
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Chinese coal mine celebrates world record number of simultaneous weddings held underground. Wait, someone's keeping track of this?
Some fool at the Christian Science Monitor (one of the world's best newspapers) thinks that the only solution for the secularized, commercial Christmas we enjoy/suffer through each year is to knock it off the holiday calendar. Oh, sure, so only Christians will get to take it off as a religious observance and the rest of us are screwed at work.