humbling philanthropism

most of you probably already know about this recent news story, but if not...

warren buffet, the world's richest man, is giving away between 37 and 44 billion american dollars to charity, most of which will be held by the bill and melinda gates foundation (bill gates himself has promised that he'll give 95% of is fortune to charity before he dies, which isn't hard to believe considering he began the foundation with 26 billion dollars of his own money).

of course, when you have 40-odd billion to your name, what could you really do with most of it anyway? yet, despite the bewildering magnitude of the amount itself, most people with money seem to want more than anything to hold on to it, and to have more of it.

some will disagree, of course, but when the two richest men in the world decide to give away the vast majority of their wealth to those least fortunate and most vulnerable, i find it hard to say that they're not genuinely good people. philanthropism on that scale is truly humbling, and i can't help but feel grateful that someone out there is willing to make such a strong statement.


so big ups to both buffet and gates; that's on some one love, for real real.

the greatest game ever played

it's almost without exception, for me, that playing golf is better than most other things i could be doing at any given time (except maybe enjoying raspberry shortcake, even golf can't top that). i played yesterday for the second time this year, and something like the fifth time in the last two years. when it's the case that at one point in your life you did something not only frequently (averaging maybe 27 holes each day the summer after high school), but competitively , it lends a sensation akin to discomfort sometimes, before playing again. there's a certain apprehension in knowing that you're about to do something poorly which you used to be able to do quite well, even artistically.

and then some days you simply surprise yourself. it wasn't a difficult course by any stretch of the imagination, but the for-the-most-part beautiful day, company of good friends not seen in months, and joy of again playing a once-true (and still-true, but somewhat forgotten and awkwardly new) love, all worked in concert towards producing the best score i've shot in the last 7 summers of golf. and had i not 3-jacked the 18th green only seconds after saying that was the last thing i wanted to risk doing (i may have mentioned phil mickelson at some point, the poor guy), it would have been one stroke even more stellar.

but that's golf; it can always, always be that little bit better. and that's a really fun thing, especially when it's already so f'ing great in the first place.


if you play, want to, or just appreciate the thought, here's to you.
jh..

evolu-whatnow?

hot damn. it's been said before regarding other things, but if anyone wants to borrow evolutionary psychology, just ask, because i own that shit.

at the undergrad level, anyhow.

woot.

knock on wood

the server/hosting problems seem to be solved. 50 gigs webspace now active.

now what the hell am i going to do with 50 gigs of web space?

two things

www.1and1.com have so far proved to be a huge pain in the ass as far as hosting goes. at this point, i wouldn't reecommend it.

but more importantly, please go and see an inconvenient truth. as far as the science goes, i can personally vouch for it, as i've studied it at university. beyond that, every noteworthy scientist in the world today will vouch for the same facts. books on the subject abound, an important one of which is "the future of life" by e.o. wilson. learn. act. please.

if you live in edmonton, the film is playing at the garneau all this week and coming weekend, so if you can at all afford it, take the two hours and 7 dollars, and make the effort to see it.

thanks, and back to trying to fix my server problems,
jh..