Ethical Thought

So what do you know about web charities? Have you ever visited the Hunger Site? I have but I am curious about the site. I get the idea; if you click to show you were there then the advertisers on that page pay the page owner for advertising there. (They know someone was there and hopefully saw the ad.) The web site owner then takes that money and uses it for a good cause. Linked with the hunger site is a breast cancer site a child literacy site a rainforest preservation site and a pet rescue site all doing the same thing.

One interesting fact according to the Wikipedia site is that this not a charity site but in fact a for profit site. However even as a for profit site the company that owns the sites say that 100% of the banner ad profits go to the causes listed. Here is an interesting article about how click donation sites work.
The big question is is it worth clicking on these sites? And it appears that the answer is yes. As long as you do not mind taking the few seconds it takes to click then you are donating a few cents to a good cause each day.

Another site recommended by the Motley Fool web page is Charity-Click-Donation they aggregate buttons into a single place so you can help 10 different charities with a single click.

In case I do not get a chance to post  I wish you all the best in this happy season!

As I look around it seems that the holiday season brings out the train knitters. In the last couple of weeks I have seen quite a few knitters focused on their knitting. This is even during a very crowded train ride. I was particularly interested in one woman’s project because I am not certain what it was. It was in black yarn on circular needles and had a ribbed round center like a hat or a top down pullover. But after the ribbed ring was some amazing lace work! Whatever it was was very nice.

I saw two unidentifiable projects because the knitter was holding them close on a crowded train but I did sit down to a beautiful lady with a great smile who was working on a nice gray hat with blue squares. She just smiled and said hello and goodbye but I have gotten other comments in the last couple weeks. My favorite was a woman who looked at me and said “you’re knitting” and I replied. “Yes, I am” she nodded and then ignored me for the rest of the trip. I guess she was just surprised. Another woman followed me off the train and commented how nice it was to see someone knitting as her mother and her daughter knit but that she does not. She was very pleasantly interested in my knitting. Most people i encounter on the train just stare or ignore me. I am slowly getting used to it but I am still self conscious about knitting in public. I will get over it. Someday.

I finished another easy item. ( I keep finishing the easy stuff not the fun stuff. -Sigh-) This is a scarf out of some of the Red Heart Kids Color. I know that it is against the norms of the knitting world to use Red heart but I had it in the stash and I was trying to find something to make a quick gift for charity. Although I must say that my kids like the colors!

Well harumph, bah humbug and all of that stuff -Grin-

I have been tagged in a BLOG Meme! Sylvia, over at From the Sheep’s Back got me. Even If you do nothing else take a look at her site. Amazingly talented person over there.

Now I will tag some other folk but please do not feel that you have to do this yourself. But should you do so it is kind of fun.

Here is the rule set I have been given:
“THE RULES:Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”

So on with the weird. ( Nothing weird about me so . . oh never mind.)

1) Weird is relative but people often find it interesting that I lived in Brazil for a year ( 1982) in the town of Pindamonhangaba, SP. I loved my time there and my host families. I would encourage anyone who has the chance to take part in a student exchange to do so. It opened my eyes!

2) I lived on a ranch in the Oregon desert for a couple years outside of the town of Jordan Valley. In fact some people think its weird to discover that Oregon has a desert. in fact 2/3 of the state are high plains desert.

3) I like to get into work early. Real early. I usually come in around 6 AM so that I can have time to myself to work or whatever.

4) I enjoy playing online Roleplaying games like Everquest 2.

5) If Sylvia can claim being a Cola drinker, I can proudly proclaim myself a coffee nut? Not that I like nuts in my coffee but I always seem to have a warm cup of coffee near me!

6) In most realms that I wander I would be considered weird for being a knitter and male but for most of my readers that does not count. So I will say its weird that I love to knit and my knitting skill is beginner to average. I love it anyway.

So now the evil part. Who do I tag? The problem being that I am a “Lurker” on many blogs and actually comment on very few.
Lets try Guido at Itsa Purl Man for starters. Nice guy. Great Blog and worthy of getting tagged.

Or Janna at Knitting Relaxes me. Just because.
Now I get to tag a couple people i do not know but I read their blogs regularly. Like Colleen at Subway Knitter. I am afraid that I will end up on her blog someday!

Or Jessamyn West at librarian.net. Nothing to do with knitting but I enjoy hearing what she has to say.

The Butterfly Yarns Blog although they also have a nice website.

You know maybe I should get one of those nifty progress bars for the web page? But then there would not be any pictures. This is the hat I am working in. I also have a scarf that I am knitting for charity and a couple sweaters that are on and off.

Unfortunately this library has been the focus of a lot of unwanted attention. It was recently closed for 3 weeks due to nearby violence

I do not know if this kind of problem is more prevalent know or if the public is simply more conscious now and we are looking more closely on these relationships.  I believe it is the latter.  I believe this because I do not think that we are any more unethical now than in the past and in fact a significant amount of approved research has been done with public private partnerships.  I cannot speak to the specifics of the particular cases mentioned but here they are anyway.

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are the committees in Hospitals and Medical Centers that review research for ethics considerations. NEJM has reported that in a number of these committees there may be a financial connection between the reviewers and the companies sponsoring research. They called for the composition of the committees to be reviewed. This is good advice. Membership on these committees should continually be reviewed for many different reasons. Financial relationships, personal relationships and just time commitments. The financial ties discussed might, or might not, be significant but keeping an eye on research ethics is always a good idea.

NASA the US space agency has announced plans for a moon base by 2020! This is an interesting development that I will be following closely. i wonder if they will be wearing anything knitted?