Five Acres with a View

donate.goodwill.org is a Goodwill site that shows the benefit of donating common items to Goodwill. Over the past year, I’ve been working hard to declutter our house, and the widget at this site gives additional incentive. For example, a working computer gives someone eight hours of training.

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Charity Navigator – Help the Victims of the Haiti Earthquake has a list of highly rated charities and tips for giving to make sure that your money goes to helping disaster victims rather than scammers and con artists.

The New York Times writes about the psychology of restaurant menus.

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Jack was dismayed when we found this in our hotel bathroom in Mammoth Hot Springs.  He was much happier when we discovered the men’s shower across the hall.

Effect Measure, at ScienceBlogs, has some well-written posts about Swine Flu.  Remember to wash your hands.

I was shocked the other day to read the other day that only 38% of Americans could give blood if they wanted to. The CBS article Number Of Americans Eligible To Give Blood Overestimated By 60 Percent  explains why.  When I started donating in college, I think they asked potential donors about seven questions, including about how the donor was feeling that day.  I think there were several dozen questions that I answered to today before I donated.  Without working at a place with a regular visit by a blood bank, I hadn’t donated in four or five years.  With my new job, I now drive past a hospital with a blood bank four days a week, so I decided to schedule an appointment there.  I am pleased to report that the juice and chocolate chip cookies were very good.

If you use the Google Personalized home page, there is a widget with Local Gas Prices. After you install it, it will prompt you to enter your zip code.

If you do any on-line ordering at all, you may want to read Jack’s Arrrgh! They Got Me…

Petsmart has a good press release on canned pet foods that have caused renal failure in some pets. Check the list if you feed canned food.