Mostly OT - Tsunami relief

[Guest guest]

Friends,

Please excuse the off-topic post, but as I'm sure just about everyone

now knows, many millions of our fellow-inhabitants of this small

blue-green planet have visited by an almost unimaginable disaster: a

catastrophic category 9 (NINE!) undersea earthquake, which sent

tsunamis ( " tidal waves " ) racing across the Indian Ocean at 500 miles

an hour. In some areas, the waves came ashore 50 feet high, reaching

as far as ten miles inland. The last figures I heard were 76-77,000

known dead (with that number expected to climb); just one country --

Indonesia -- reports 4.5 million people affected, a half-million of

them left totally homeless. Seven other countries were affected. The

following message on the subject came across one of my other

(historical re-creation) e-mail lists, and I forward it now:

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As salaama!

(Forgive the vigorous cross-posting; this is slightly OT, but

vitally important.)

Many folk on this list will be heading to one or two thunderously

good parties this New Years. (Heck, maybe you'll even be like the

Ulstermen of legend, and hit them all!!)

If you're hosting one, I would like to make a humble suggestion. Get

out a donation basket, and place it where all your guests and

revellers can see it.

The death-toll in southern Asia just reached 63,000. [Note: While I

was typing, the official toll went up another 4,000.] Now, the water-

borne plagues have begun, and that number is expected to double.

This is the single largest incident of human death and misery to

occur within our lifetimes.

Decide amongst yourselves whether to send the proceeds to the Red

Cross, Doctors Without Borders, World Vision, CCF...whomever you

trust to get these funds where it will ease some of the horror.

Both the Talmud and Koran say that whoever saves a life, saves the

entire world. This extended community has the potential to save

galaxies.

Getting off the soap-box <creak.>

Blessings for the New Year rain lavishly upon all of you.

~Siduri al-Gulnar

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Me again. Amazon.com has a large notice and button allowing donations

to the Red Cross using one's credit card (including Amazon's

" One-Click Ordering, " if you have that enabled). I have used it to

make a donation, and encourage everyone to use this and/or any other

means available to help provide aid in this, perhaps the greatest

natural disaster in recorded history.

And now, the (tenuous) dairy connection: one of the news reports I

saw last night was on tsunami early-warning systems on U.S. West

Coast (I forget, now, whether the particular community was in Oregon

or Washington). Fearing that a siren would cause panic, the emergency

tone is.... a loud cow-moo! :-)

All best,

Tom

--

" A properly human sound... is one which allows other sounds to

be heard. " -- Wendell Berry

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H. Harbold P.O. Box 1537

tharbold@... Westminster, MD 21158

tom_in_md@... http://www.geocities.com/Tom_in_MD

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