EASY WEEKEND DIY: CANDLE IN A JAR

Via Dreams and Jeans

Alright then.  In the upper left corner.  On the trunk being used as a nightstand.  Do you see what I see?    Of course you do.  It's so simple, really, when you think about it.  Do you have candles? Do you have old pasta sauce jars?  Then you can put the two together and voila!  An instant decorative (and useful) piece.  No more need to buy candleholders (unless you want to). 

LISTENING AND QUIET

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Have you ever listened to someone else purely for the purpose of understanding them - listening almost as a psychologist or psychiatrist does - listening purely out of interest in the speaker?  

I've noticed various types of listening recently:

• Listening to refute: taking in information so you can assemble your own argument
• Listening to join: taking in information so you can provide your own similar experience.  I think Tyra Banks is supposed to do this a lot on Top Model.  Except her similar stories have nothing to do with what the other person just said.
• Listening to accumulate information, to store away for later, when it might come in handy

There are probably more.  I've been stepping back lately, and just noticing patterns of listening.  I'm not sure if it's necessarily wrong to listen for the reasons I've just listed, I'm just saying those might be the more common ways to listen, while actually hearing the person and what they're saying may not be.

Conversely, truly being heard and understood may be a basic (psychological, not to be confused with food, clothing, etc.) human need.  I've heard it described as "psychological air."* I wonder how often this need is met.  And what people do get that need met.

In a more extreme case, I've been listening to the people at the back of the bus - the crazies that can still afford bus fare.  Not intentionally - they're just loud. They have no censor. Sometimes they chatter - and their chatter has the feel of a conversation, just with themselves. They talk like there's someone on the other end of the conversation. It's like they're meeting this need they have, this need to be heard and understood, but just in a very unconventional way.

It's always interesting to notice people who either can't or won't self-censor, because they sometimes show a part of human nature that is raw and unguarded, possibly a part of themselves that other people normally wouldn't allow to be seen.  Except for the one guy who got on the bus for poon, and started saying out loud how he wanted to sleep with every girl on the bus - every single one - and then a small circle of space started to widen around him.  Except for that guy.  I wonder if the discomfort that you sometimes feel, when that person near you begins to talk to himself, isn't partly because it's a distant echo of a need that is normally kept hidden.

* Stephen Covey

GIVEWELL: CHECKING UP ON CHARITIES

Published on GiveWell (http://www.givewell.org)

Our charity evaluation process

For details, see our process for international charities and our process for U.S. charities. This page has all charities that we have considered. GiveWell's process broadly consists of:

• Examining hundreds of charities and relevant academic literature
• Deeply investigating the most promising charities by our criteria
• Publishing all the details of our charity recommendations and the full details of our reasoning on this website

Evaluation criteria

We primarily look for charities with strong documented track records, highly cost-effective activities, and concrete needs for more funds. Recommended charities must be highly transparent and accountable, i.e., willing to share enough in-depth information about their work that we can assess them on these criteria.

Identifying charities

We cast the net as wide as we can to consider as many charities as possible, reviewing hundreds of charities' websites and more deeply investigating the most promising ones. This page has all charities that we have considered. We identify charities from sources, including:

• Submissions to our website
• Grantees of other major funders
• Partners of research organizations

In-depth charity reviews

We perform in-depth reviews of charities that make it through the early stages of our process. These involve conversations with representatives; examination of internal documentation including monitoring and evaluation reports, budgets, and plans for using additional funding; reviewing independent literature and evidence of effectiveness of the charities' programs. For the strongest contenders, we conduct visits to their programs in the field. We post the names of every charity we consider on our website. This page has all charities that we have considered.

*       *       *

Since I posted about fake charities, I thought I would post about ways to figure out effective charities.  The above is straight from the GiveWell.org website.

What is GiveWell?

Givewell is an American non-profit charity evaluator started in 2007 by two former Bridgewater Associates* investment analysts, Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld. The goal of Givewell is to promote giving to charities that are effective and transparent.

Where does GiveWell get its funding?

GiveWell is supported by foundations, such as the Hewlett Foundation, and individual supporters.  They do not solicit donations from the general public. Look here.

Interesting GiveWell Articles:

Some juicy bits from their blog (at least for me): Celebrated Charities That We Don't Recommend, which names Kiva, Smile Train and UNICEF.

• Kiva: Well, damn. I've given money to Kiva - I honestly thought I was giving money directly to women to help finance their businesses, when it seems the money was given to micro-finance institutions, and that the creation of this direct relationship between you as a donor and a businesswoman on the other end is illusory. Kiva promises to give you updates so you see how your contribution is having an effect.  I gave some time ago and have since received one really generic update.  
• In regards to micro-finance institutions, GiveWell has put together an article suggesting that microfinancing (making small loans to people to help them start their business!), while a good idea in theory, may suck in practice.
• Smile Train: You've seen those pictures of children with cleft lips - what kind of bastard are you that you could resist that? Well, you are not alone.  No one could resist that, and Smile Train has been so successful that they are out of room for more funding. 
• UNICEF: UNICEF it would have never occurred to me to question, because...it's UNICEF.  Speaking ill of UNICEF is like peeing on a church.  You just don't do that. Well, UNICEF isn't exactly forthcoming about what they do with their funds, so I'm putting my reverence on hold. 

Also interesting is their article on Mega-Charities: those large institutional charities (think $250+ Million budgets) that are well known.  This includes UNICEF (again), Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, World Vision, and CARE.  This article points out that these organizations don't provide a lot of data on where your money goes, and you can probably have a stronger impact donating to smaller organizations, possibly the one recommended on GiveWell (seems self-promoting, I know). Exception: Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders.  Interesting...

Useful Links:

• Here is the their list of top charities and the international charities they considered. 
• Here is their Giving 101 guide showing you how you can make sure your donation has a positive impact.
• Here is a link to their charity evaluation process

So the question now is - do you trust GiveWell?  Willing to give them a chance? 

* Bridewater Associates: an American investment management firm, or hedge fund. 

THE SCIENTIFIC 7-MINUTE WORKOUT

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So, other things you can do during your July 4th.  Do each activity for 30 seconds.  Repeat for best results, for a total of 20 minutes (for ideal results).

This has been making the blog rounds, but I like to have it where I can access it easily.

JULY 4TH SIDE READING

Happy July 4th! Now for that small shred of alone time you find when you sneak into the closet with your iPhone, here are some interesting articles I found, and why I found them interesting:

• Why Writing for a Living is a Terrible Idea:  It's facetious, but it caught my eye because I've always wanted 2 jobs.  I've always wanted to do something that makes money and comes with a 401K, and to write for the joy of it.  Not as the main source of income, but on the side.  If I had to think about writing (or blogging) to pay the bills, it would stress me out.
• Check out any of the articles in The Writer's Room.  Interesting - if you're into this particular topic - and I think it's pretty obvious what they're all about.
• The Spark File: On why to keep a notebook with you - at all times - and use it to keep note of all the random things that come your way when your mind is most relaxed.  I have personally set my shopping cart down in the middle of Trader Joe's to write illegible notes to myself.  It's useful.  It works. It's great. 
• A Writer's Plight: Procrastination is a huge bitch.  It's horrible, it's no good, and you are not alone in it.  If you want the company, that is.  Ideally, this will motivate you to get off your ass. 

FOOD ON MY MIND

I've been thinking about food a bit lately.  Why?  I don't know, sometimes ideas simmer for a while, putting themselves together in your mind, and then when they're ready, they pop into your consciousness, seeming to come out of nowhere. 

I have to eat every day (This should not be a surprise.  I assume this is universal, yes?), but cooking and shopping for food and planning for it is always such a burden.  Sometimes, I eat something (borderline healthy) just to get the hunger over with so I can move on to more important things, you know, like browsing the web.  I knew a single mom who made sure her daughter ate well, and then put a bunch of vegetables in a blender for herself because she was too tired.  It's a similar mentality - just get it over with - but it's something that I would like to change, for the simple reason that since this is something that has to be done daily (I am referring to cooking and eating) - as in every.single.day - there is no reason why is has to be perceived as a burden. 

Whenever I hear the word "holistic," I think about thinking of the body as a whole organism, and not a series of individual symptoms.  Like a nagging pain in your foot may be caused by damaged nerve endings in your back, or it might be the result of psychological pain.  You do not just look at your foot when you have foot pain, you look at your entire body and psyche. 

How does this apply to food? Well...you have to stretch a little.  In relation to food, instead of seeing eating simply as a day to day activity, I can see it as an extension of a larger philosophy and build from there.  

What a philosophy can provide is structure to your thought process, a form of internal guidelines that you can use to order meals - it guides what cookbooks to buy, what recipes to try, what part of the grocery store to hang around, where you even want to buy your food.  The point is to narrow your focus instead of seeing your food options as an all you can eat buffet. I can't really speak to other people's philosophies - I am only one person, but here is some food for thought: 

• Forks over Knives: a documentary that follows medical doctors that heal their patients by switching them to plant based diets. 
• The China Study: an in depth study - that, yes, takes place in China because they have a large enough population to study - that makes a connection between what we eat and what afflicts us: namely heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc..  I haven't read it.  It's a tad long.  I read this cheat sheet instead. 
• My own thoughts: I'm not against flavor and food that tastes amaaaaazing, but I'd rather save that particular good time for a restaurant, not for everyday meals. It leads to less salt, less sugar intake.  I will be the first to admit, this is great in theory and sucks in practice, especially the sugar part.  I struggle with the sugar part.  Especially foods that start with twix.

Secondly, how to apply the philosophy? Putting theory into practice is always the hard part.  Again, it's hard to think holistically.  You have to plan.  You have to shop for the week.  You have to plan the weeks meals and then shop accordingly.  My own thoughts on the matter are basically to keep things simple whenever possible (Can you smell a theme here?).

• Really, really simple: It's like decorating a room, or an episode of iron chef - pick a hearty seasonal core ingredient for the week and find recipes around it.  For example: avocado during summer, squash during winter, etc. 
• Professional subscription simple: Try The Fresh 20, which provides weekly recipes based on buying 20 ingredients a week.  Time spent trolling the web for recipes is time wasted.
• Alternate meal plan subscription: The veggiemealmaker.
• You have to plan for the worst.  There will be days I fall off the wagon, and I've been watching infomercials, so I'm going to invest in a nutri-bullet.  You never know man, you never know.
• There's also a China Study Cookbook.  I'll probably take a look at that as well. 

A PICTURE FOR THE WEEKEND NO. 20

I was walking around here over the weekend. No one really knows or likes this beach.  I would like to keep it that way. 

SO CLOSE

This is a pic taken waiting in traffic (not driving) during my morning commute. I don't particularly like it, the job or the commute.  But I recently got an interview where I can leave both of these behind.  It might come to nothing, you never know, but if I got this gig, my life would take a quantum leap forward. It would be a big deal, so much so that I'm almost afraid to hope.

By the way,  I'm not talking about a movie or book deal our anything,  just a better job. it's just interesting to be at a crossroads.

A PICTURE FOR THE WEEKEND NO. 19

STYLE ESSENTIALS: BASICS

Untitled #135 by kristin-gp featuring leather shoes

Remember basics and keeping to a clean color palette? I came across Kristin-gp's outfits on Polyvore recently, and she just puts pieces together beautifully, and then she remixes pieces into different outfits. I thought I would share her outfits as a reminder of how well basics can work and how simple styling yourself can be. I sometimes forget that I don't need all that much to look put together, and this is a nice reminder. I also didn't link to the actual clothing items because 1) most people probably have a version of each item, and 2) let's just say I would have to whore myself out to afford them, and that's not quite in line with my priorities. 

Untitled #285 by kristin-gp featuring rag & bone boots

I added some more outfits after the jump, just to look at, for those times when I find myself staring at my closet wondering where in the hell everything went so wrong.