Five Acres with a View » PublicService

Help the Victims of the Haiti Earthquake

Elaine — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:28:57 +0000

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.

Menu Psychology

Elaine — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:52:45 +0000

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

Vintage

Elaine — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:06:05 +0000

Full Size 1200×798

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

Elaine — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:42:45 +0000

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

Scarcity of Blood Donors

Elaine — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 23:58:05 +0000

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.

iGoogle Widget for Local Gas Prices

Elaine — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 21:07:30 +0000

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.

exempli gratia Â» Arrrgh! They Got Meâ€¦

Elaine — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:35:33 +0000

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

Canned Food Recall

Elaine — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 19:07:37 +0000

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.

Powers and Old Ranch

Elaine — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:02:50 +0000

This morning, the Gazette reported

The intersection of Powers and Old Ranch Road now tops the cityâ€™s list of the 25 most dangerous intersections while many hot spots from the past year saw fewer crumpled cars and injuries.

This is an intersection I drive past several times a week, and I thought it looked extremely dangerous from before it opened. Powers looks like a limited access highway at that point, and there is very little warning that there is at grade crossing with a signal at the top of the hill. In addition, the drivers on Old Ranch do not have good visibilty to see the traffic that might be approaching on Powers. I wonder if this report will lead the traffic engineers to consider some risk mitigation like flashing lights on Powers to warn of the intersection.

Hurricane Katrina Message Boards

Elaine — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 23:32:45 +0000

Yahoo has a collection of Hurricane Katrina Message Boards.