Season's Givings?

DevanJedi asks: "Many people around the world plan their charitable giving around this time of the year, for religious, tax or other similarly benevolent reasons. As a geek who spends an inordinate amount of time around his computer, I have compiled a list of entities that have made my geek life easier, in the past year. Which other projects does Slashdot believe to be worthy of praise, money, recognition, developer time or general applause?"

Comments

I gave all my money to Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm thinking that might've been a bad idea since I now realize they're not a charity.

Re:I gave all my money to Slashdot

[Amezick]

Please validate the charity you are giving money to. There is a non-profit organization that posts the yearly IRS filing of all NPO's. It's website is at http://www.guidestar.org/ (registration required)

here's an idea . . .

[hcetSJ]

Slashdot my bank account . . .

Just deposit to account 1241234234 . . .

Re:here's an idea . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

>Slashdot my bank account . . .

>Just deposit to account 1241234234 . . .

How about we buy you a superman costume complete with a big package...?

Re:here's an idea . . .

[HappyMeal]

:)

How about the OpenBSD Project? I know, some folks have issues with Theo deRaadt himself -- and I must admit to some mutterings, myself.

But in the realm of technical computing, they've raised the bar higher for everybody. Kudos to them.

http://www.openbsd.org/donations.html

Re:here's an idea . . .

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

account 1241234234

That's the kind of combination an idiot has on his bank account!

Re:here's an idea . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

I just deposited $3.00 to your account. You total balance is now $3.00.

I'd love to read this list but

[butters the odd]

Apparently your server wasn't quite ready for the Slashdot effect.

Re:I'd love to read this list but

[gaveawaymyname]

"Sorry Timmy, there won't be a Christmas this year... Santa's list got Slashdotted."

Re:I'd love to read this list but

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory mirror link :
http://www.mirrordot.org/stories/cbf65a8017dc6768a aa8e87eb4a13d05/index.html

Re:I'd love to read this list but

[DevanJedi]

Yeah, sorry about that. Apparently my server wasn't ready for some real season's givings. For those interested, my article listed: - Firefox - Wikipedia - Fedora - Gnucash - NetNewsWire - GNU Emacs - EFF - Adium - Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA - Radio Open Source as my favorites for the holiday season :). Please check them out if you haven't and be generous! They've significantly improved my life and maybe they will yours as well.

Re:I'd love to read this list but

[Baricom]

Was your web hosting company on the list before today? ;)

Food banks

[Barkley44]

I find food banks are the best place to donate, especially in food form (instead of cash). Canned foods last well into the new year and many people benefit from the meals they provide - either peopel directly getting the food, or food banks preparing the food. We try to run such events every few months around our area. One time we went to make a large donation and the food bank had just 1 can of food left (for a city of 18,000 people). A lot of people don't realize how much a few $$ worth of food can go towards helping other people out.

Re:Food banks

[B3ryllium]

I see you've never heard the term 'the working poor'. So feck off.

Re:Food banks

[Secrity]

I wonder why it is better for individuals to give food to these food banks instead of giving them cash? In many areas, food banks have plenty of food provided to them by food drives and by the food and grocery industry. The biggest needs of many food banks are volunteer help and money for non-food overhead things; such as salaries, utilities, storage space, transportation, fuel, etc. In those cases where food banks would need to purchase food, donating money allows the food bank to buy the specific type of food that it is short of.

It seems that if one is donating food to food banks, the following are the most appreciated foods:

* canned fruit and vegetables
* canned tuna
* canned meats
* canned soups, stews, and chili
* peanut butter in plastic jars
* cereal
* pasta
* rice
* beans

Re:Food banks

[Anonymous Coward]

I know in my area, most people forget the food bank collects money. There's always a lot of "Free with food donation" concerts and such, or food drives at the gorcery stores, even on busses, but it never gets mentioned that the food banks need money too.

In addition to the reasons for cash you mentioned above, food banks are often needting to by perishables , such as milk, eggs, bread, meat, cheese and so on, in addition to whatever it's short of at any given time. Money is often invaluable to a food bank.

My annual donation to the food bank is always in cash.

Re:Food banks

[SleepyHappyDoc]

Bear in mind, if you donate 'nice' foods, as in anything nicer than cheap canned stuff and pasta, it usually will not make it's way to the poor served by the food bank, but will most likely go home with whomever works at the food bank. Not to impugne the services food banks offer, but if you want to help a hungry person or family, do it directly. Find a low-income/subsidized housing area, take some food with you, and give it away to those who need it. Or else, buy gift certificates for grocery stores, and give those away directly.

Having worked at a food bank in the past, the volunteers (who are not always poor or in need of food) get first pick on what is donated.

Re:Food banks

[Anonymous Coward]

Depending on the size of the food bank, it's probably better to donate cash. That way the bank can use it's buying power to purchase bulk amounts of food for much less than you could on your own, ensuring that your dollars go further.

Re:Food banks

[udderly]

I give to the MercyWORKS ministry at my church because--being entirely volunteer staffed with ZERO overhead--ALL of the money goes directly to feeding, clothing, providing counseling and rent/utility bills assistance.

Re:Food banks

[Myself]

And if they're reasonably large, they probably have options with local food stores to buy things at quantity discount. Why would you buy a few cans of food at the per-can price, when they could combine cash donations and get it at the per-pallet price? Furthermore, cash is easily converted into whatever type of food they need at the moment. Giving them specific types means they have to store them up until they have enough of whatever to make a batch of something.

Of course, if you work for a food producer of some sort, it would be huge if you could help arrange a deal with your local food bank.

Re:Food banks

[Abcd1234]

I really want to emphasize the desirability of canned meats and fish in that list. High quality protein is often lacking at food banks.

Re:Food banks

[StarvingSE]

Ok, this is just awful. Is this standard operating procedure for the food bank, or did you just volunteer with the scum of the earth? And if its the latter (hell, even if its the former) did you report what was going on?

Seriously, people stealing food out of the mouths of the hungry and homeless? What is this world coming to?

Re:Food banks

[cashman73]

Having volunteered for several food banks in the past, yes, some of this happens. But I think it's more of the exception than the rule. I have yet to see a food bank telling their volunteers to have a free for all and load up on whatever is there. But there are a few people that randomly take a few items off the shelf for the own pickings. But I think most people are there generally to help out.

Re:Food banks

[akamoe]

Probably just the scum of the earth.

Where I live, there are 2 food banks: one is staffed by volunteers, with a part-time (4hx5d/wk) co-ordinator. They will accept food happily, but have volume discounts with local retailers and wholesalers for cash donations. The cash helps tho, because they still have rent to pay, and lights to keep on.

Then, there's a food "bank", where the execuitve director and manager are husband and wife, and between them get $120,000/yr salary. If you try to donate food to them, they freak out, but if there's a nickle of charity money to be had, they will literally knock you down to get it (they knocked a fireman over one time who was involved in a fundraising effort for the other food-bank, because he wouldn't give up 1/2 the money).

Choose your favorite. ;)

Re:Food banks

[twiddlingbits]

I have a close friend who works on the Board of our food bank here in N. Texas. She says give MONEY. As they can buy food for around 17 cents/pound in bulk from the mfgs and/or the Regional Food Bank. I can't think of anything in the Grocery store you can buy at that price. The list you provided is good, but add in Infant Formula/Baby Food, Powdered Milk, Hot Cereals (Oatmeal, Grits, Cream of Wheat), Salt/Pepper, Sugar, Condiments. Frozen Meats (such as those on-sale frozen Turkeys) are also good as they can feed a family for a week with one of those!

Re:Food banks

[jskiff]

Frozen Meats (such as those on-sale frozen Turkeys) are also good as they can feed a family for a week with one of those!

That's the truth. My Dad and I were actually having this conversation over Thanksgiving. Typically, my folks will buy at least two or three turkeys during the sales they have around Thanksgiving, when the price of turkey is ridiculously low. At that time of year, I think even the poorest family could buy a turkey and a bag of potatoes, and easily eat for a week.

Re:Food banks

[Gumber]

Why do you assume that the person you are replying to knows anything at all about what actually happens at a food bank?

Re:Food banks

[StarvingSE]

"Having worked at a food bank in the past, the volunteers (who are not always poor or in need of food) get first pick on what is donated."

Yeah....

Re:Food banks

[RamblerRandy]

NO TUNA! I have a TON of canned tuna I don't like or know what to do with (no$$)!

Re:Food banks

[RamblerRandy]

What I get and what I need: I get TONS of rice and pinto beans (I'm NOT mexican for Gods' sake!). Plenty of Canned Tuna Fish but little else for tuna salad sandwiches. Tuna is cheap to buy, others are more needed. I very rarely get any beef or other. Occasional complete chicken (but why the expensive organic? when you can buy 2 regular to donate?). Tons of pasta that I have little sauce for. Hamburger and dairy are almost never seen at my end due to no easy way to distribute to individuals and lack of donations. Food banks send the good stuff to the local kitchens (St Vincent DePaul when I can get there) for those badly needed meals. It stinks to be poor in America! And disabled! BTW, why no canned hams? I've never seen one through them! AND STOP DONATING NO SALT, LOW CARB, etc. items! We need real food, don't make assumptions about our dietary needs! Gah!

Re:Food banks

[brontus3927]

The food bank run by my mother's church doesn't accept money donations (although you can donate to the general deacons fund if you really want to give money). It operates completely on food donations.

Re:Food banks

[everettpf3]

Maybe you should just stop eating altogether

Re:Food banks

[twiddlingbits]

That's not uncommon for Churches. The one I am talking about is a private non-church food bank, it's a legit charity for IRS purposes and serves the whole county.

Storage

[hahafaha]

I find that one of tme most useful things to give is storage, particularly portable storage such as (preferrably large USB Drives). Setting up a system at home is great, but imagine getting even, say a 256 MB drive, installing Cygwin (with X) on it, and using it to SSH into your machine from others, even if your own machine is GNU/Linux and the clients are Windows. It's like carrying your own system around your neck at all times, and when you change something, you don't have to update anything.

Re:Storage

[cgf]

Here's the link to the cygwin donations page.

Re:Storage

[hahafaha]

I am sorry. I did not mean that you should give USB drives to charities. I meant that they make good presents (to friends) and also that people should donate to open source projects such as Cygwin

Charitable giving

[ucblockhead]

I prefer to give my charitable dollars to the poor and infirm.

I sometimes also give money to middle-class white geeks running software projects that benefit other middle-class white geeks because I want those projects to continue to exist. (I am, after all, a middle-class white geek.) But I don't delude myself into thinking that this is "charity" because when I give money to these projects, I benefit in that the project that produces something that I use is going to be able to advance faster.

For example, giving money to the gnome people isn't "charity" unless you do not use gnome yourself.

Re:Charitable giving

[HappyMeal]

Okay. That's reasonable.

Got any personal favo(u)rites as to which to donate to, for the poor and infirm?

Re:Charitable giving

[quizteamer]

I prefer to give my charitable dollars to the poor and infirm.

Its great to give money around Christmas to the poor and infirm, but if you don't have the extra cash (like me), another option is volunteering (and not just around the holidays).
I spend 4-8 hours a week helping students with math and science at the "poor" high school in my city. I also play guitar in a band that goes to the local hospitals a few times a month.
Giving money is good but its not your only option.

Re:Charitable giving

[Anonymous Coward]

I couldn't have said it better myself!

What the hell is the point of this entire post? If you want to be charitable, give to a charity that will feed the hungry or shelter the homeless! Giving old hardrives to the (relatively) well-off is not charity - it's just getting rid of crap you don't want anymore.

Re:Charitable giving

[ucblockhead]

Well...maybe you've heard of this one?

There's the obvious foodbanks that are always in operation plus "Toys for Tots" and all the variations. Giving in kind is generally safer than giving cash as you know that what you give actually gets there.

I personally give to Doctors without Borders, the local AIDS foundation and a few others.

Re:Charitable giving

[ucblockhead]

Agreed! In fact, I'd say that giving money is the worst option. When you give time, you help directly, with nothing skimmed off the top.

Re:Charitable giving

[Anonymous Coward]

the local AIDS foundation

I for one avoid foundations that promote HIV and AIDS. That stuff kills, you know.

Re:Charitable giving

[Create an Account]

For the past couple of years I have designed and built databases for local area charities (for tracking donations, clients, volunteers, whatever). These people really need the help, have no freaking money, and are trying to good things for people. I don't have much money, but a little technical assistance goes a long way. These people really appreciate the help.

Re:Charitable giving

[stomv]

But I don't delude myself into thinking that this is "charity" because when I give money to these projects, I benefit in that the project that produces something that I use is going to be able to advance faster.

When you give to homeless shelters, you don't have to step over bums on the street. When you give to Katrina funds, you help rebuild a community so it doesn't use social services in your area. When you give to the ACLU or the EFF, you benefit from the maintaining of freedom for everyone.

We're all connected, and when you reduce the suffering -- or increase the joy -- anywhere in the world, it very well might somehow, somewhere, come back to help you personally.

That doesn't mean that a generous gift of money or time isn't charity. Likewise, giving to a software project that benefits all who choose to use it, without regard to ability to pay or how it is to be used, is charity because, generally speaking, you personally could receive those benefits the charity is offering without you personally paying.

Giving to an open source project is charitible.

Re:Charitable giving

[penguin121]

>Agreed! In fact, I'd say that giving money is the worst option. When you give time, you help directly, with nothing skimmed off the top.

While giving money certainly isn't the only option or the best option necessarily, that doesn't make it the worst option. Many charities require a combination of material donations, such as money, as well as donations of time through volunteering to be sucessful. Consider something like a soup kitchen. Its true that if it only gets material donations, it won't be effective without volunteers to prepare and distribute them. However, it won't be effective either if it only has volunteers without any food to distribute. The point of charity is to give what you can to help those in need. A person lacking free time that gives money is not exercising a worse option than someone else lacking money that gives their time, and neither is the reverse true. To try and form a pecking order out of the different types of charitable giving is to lose sight of the bigger picture.

Re:Charitable giving

[dlbornke]

I disagree. It's right that if you spend your own time on doing charity probably deserves more respect than just spending money.
But I don't think that it is the worst option. Just look on the unicef homepage what you can accomplish with a few bucks per month (18$ per month will give water for 10 families in Vietnam, etc.). I wouldn't know how to accomplish s.th. like that by helping directly.
Yes: Spending money is the easiest way of doing charity, but it is still very important and with little work you can help support great projects.
But I admit that I am probably misinterpreting your posting ;)

Re:Charitable giving

[Ignorant Aardvark]

Nahh, giving money is often a very good option. Especially for highly trained, highly paid professionals ... you know the type, lawyers, plastic surgeons, et al. These people can easily make more than $100 per hour. They will do a lot more good for society if they work an hour and donate that $100 rather than donating an hour of their time handing out food for the homeless or cleaning up a park or whatever. Their donations of an hour's earnings could easily pay for fifteen people to do an hour of good work. Remember, money makes the world go round ... a donation of money is often the best thing you can do to help people.

Re:Charitable giving

[vanman2004]

Helping out at schools is a GREAT way to give back to the community. I'm still in high school, but during my free periods I work in the computer lab at the inner-city elementary school that I attended. When schools are underfunded, the first thing that gets cut is generally language and computer education programs; often times these programs lack both personnel and equipment.

It's amazing how much difference a few hours a week can make to overworked and undertrained teachers and technicians.

Re:Charitable giving

[GoofyBoy]

>We're all connected, and when you reduce the suffering -- or increase the joy -- anywhere in the world, it very well might somehow, somewhere, come back to help you personally.

So why don't I just keep the money myself and help myself directly?

Saying that giving to help a child in Africa and eventually, by some magical means, that will benefit me supports the same argument that if I keep my money and spend it on me will help that same child in Africa some way.

Re:Charitable giving

[JuzzFunky]

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.
Teach him how to fish and he'll spend all day sitting in a boat drinking beer.

But seriously, I'm big on the volunteering rather than giving $$. Then at least I know exactly what my contribution is doing.

Re:Charitable giving

[OhHellWithIt]

Does this mean that when I wipe my new laptop's disk tonight and install Linux, without having booted the XP that it shipped with, that the money that went to Redmond for XP is charity?

Re:Charitable giving

[Dare nMc]

> you know the type, lawyers, plastic surgeons, et al. These people can easily make more than $100 per hour.
who are you Bill Gates? might as well incourage thiefs, assasins, and kidnappers to do good for the society and keep up their behavious and give cash later.
Ok thats harsh even for me, but doing less "social" activities, and doing more isolated activities IMHO markes the poor as "them" and the wealthier as "us" (well not me on either) where as working with them should be best for the society in whole.

(but since I am in a anti society mood currently, back to Grand theft auto on the big screen HDTV, I owe, I owe, off to the credit card loan I go.)

Be unselfish

[ishmalius]

Maybe you address this in your article, but the server has turned to molten metal. So ignore this if I have it wrong, but: They made your life better? Whatever happened to altruism?

I, for one, am giving to the Salvation Army. During the hurricanes, they did an enormous amount of thankless work. They did not receive the publicity of the Red Cross, but as is typical, they are the first to arrive and the last to leave. They work endless hours, seemingly tirelessly, and never lose their smiles. They shun self-promotion. These are truly wonderful people.

Re:Be unselfish

[Caspian]

[Salvation Army members] work endless hours, seemingly tirelessly, and never lose their smiles.

Of course they don't. They're there to look happy and smiley so they can convert you. What did you think "salvation" referred to?

If you aren't interested in giving significant sums of money to further one of the cause of Jesusism, may I suggest CARE, Goodwill, or another secular charity?

Re:Be unselfish

[Caspian]

Err. I meant to edit that into something more akin to "...to further one of the biggest and most well-organized supporters of the cause of Jesusism", but tuckered out halfway. Oops.

Re:Be unselfish

[TheFlyingGoat]

The Salvation Army is an excellent charitable organization. I donate to them every year instead of the Red Cross, not because I don't like the Red Cross, but because I feel the Salvation Army is more efficient with how they spend the money.

We also donate to can drives, Toys for Tots (local charity), and the Humane Society. Food and clothing drives are the most important charities this time of year, since 100% of what you donate goes to people that really need those things. Donating to the Humane Society is just something we've always done, and as such is a family tradition. No reason it has to be done during the holidays, though.

Just for kicks, here's an annoying story about how a local school wasn't allowed to have their students volunteer for the Salvation Army, since it's a religious organization. The complaints of a few unreasonable people ruined what would have been a very good lesson for those kids.

Re:Be unselfish

[XorNand]

The Salvation Army is a missionary branch of the Christian church, that just happens to do charitable work. The Salvation Army Mission Statement reads:

The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

I'm not about to perputrate the falsehood that religious persons have a monopoly on charitable acts. How about giving to a charity that is more concerned about distributing aid rather than using it as a guise to spew dogma?

Re:Be unselfish

[Anonymous Coward]

I was in Toys 'R Us yesterday purchasing gifts for my 2.5 and 1 year old. In front of me was a kid who looked like a textbook nerd, probably about 10, with that quiet contemplative look that indicates an intelligent mind. He was asking his mom for something, I'm not sure what, but I overheard her say "We don't have a car to drive it home or enough money for that." He was holding one of those inexpensive rubber balls and it looked like all they were buying. They weren't dressed in rags or anything, and they looked respectable, but they were clearly financially "poor".

I was too stunned to act, and I really wish I did. I should have jumped in and offered to buy whatever that kid wanted and gave them a ride home. I just had my little "ivory bubble" burst in that incident and it shocked me. I came up in poverty myself and moved to an affluent area. I have a very healthy income now and like many who came up poor, I don't like to think back to those days because memories of going to bed hungry and being called white trash by yuppies aren't pleasant ones. While that mother and son didn't look as poor as I had been at one period of my life, they still looked like they could have used a blessing from someone.

Anyway, my point is, if anyone knows a family that's hurting, help them out. If they're too proud, put an envelope with money in their mailbox, or anonymously mail them a money order. I'm not saying don't write a check to an organization with a solid track record of helping those who need it(like the Salvation Army), but being able to impact a family in your area who needs it is powerful more direct stuff.

I'm really kicking myself for not helping them out. I honestly was just too shocked at what I heard and was confused by a rush of memories. By the time it even crossed my mind to help them they were gone. The next time I witness that, I'm going to take action.

Re:Be unselfish

[ishmalius]

Yes, I forgot to mention that part, that they have very low operating costs, so almost all of the donations go the the needy.

By the way, the cynics might want to know that in all of our dealings with the Salvation Army this summer, I did not see them proseletyzing even a single time. Helping the people in distress seemed to be the only mission at hand. Here is a nice humorous article from a few weeks ago about another group, which I think actually gets the spirit of the relief effort fairly accurately.

Another thing to which people might be interested in contributing, are the various holiday feasts that your local community organizations are holding for the poor and homeless in your area. I have volunteered for these several times, and I absolutely love doing it. I have discovered that what homeless people need the most is merely someone to talk to, since they are so totally alone on the streets. When you ask someone "How are you doing?" and he blurts out his entire life's story, the best thing you can do is listen.

I must admit, giving your own time to help people directly can't really be considered totally altruistic. Guiltily, you will almost certainly benefit in your heart as much as anything you might be doing for them. Cynicism will fall by the wayside.

Re:Be unselfish

[Stephen Williams]

Of course they want to spread the Gospel. They're a church. They're not trying to hide it, either; it's not as if they're converting people at the point of a sword, or being dishonest about their motives. And why should they not tell people about something they consider vitally important? Whether or not you believe their message to be true, they do, and they sincerely believe that everyone needs to hear it. And if it falls on deaf ears, they'll help you anyway. Their mission isn't "repent, or we won't give you assistance".

-Stephen

Re:Be unselfish

[StarboardTack]

I'm sorry to hear that you garner no sense on pleasure or self satisfaction from your seemingly altruistic activities. I'm really not into doing things that I don't want to do, and I don't want to do things that make me feel bad, or even indifferent.

I'm frightened of those who are ashamed to admit that they enjoy helping others or feel that somehow enjoying benevolent acts degrades those acts into not being 'true altruism.'

By that definition, only someone with mental or emotional issues could commit acts of altruism (without regard to their own happiness).

Please admit that it does make your life better by adding some value, be it pleasure, or purpose, or just a warm fuzzy feeling.

Re:Be unselfish

[ThreeE]

Yes, those Salvation Army folks are terrible people. All they think of is themselves.

Re:Be unselfish

[Secrity]

Would you feel the same way if the public school wanted it's students to volunteer for the Westboro Baptist Church, the Black Ministerial Alliance, or Focus on the Family instead of the Salvation Army?

Re:Be unselfish

[ishmalius]

Heh. Yes, you got me there. I confessed in a reply above. I saw an article in Scientific American once about the altruistic behaviour of bats, where he theorized that the benefit was the herd instinct, which we bipeds call a sense of community.

Re:Be unselfish

[RobertLTux]

Okay just as a point of interest Christian Does not at all times equal Religious in fact most of the time Religious folks can't be really called Christian. Yes the Salvation Army is very Christian but spewing dogma would get away from "The Mission"!

Re:Be unselfish

[Caspian]

A lot of people who would never knowingly help a church are unaware that the SA is, in fact, one.

Re:Be unselfish

[Myself]

For the longest time, I thought the Red Cross was, too. Big cross, you know?

It was only the recent publicity about the new "Red Crystal" logo that clued me in. Drives me nuts that people said the cross logo was no big deal and "had no religious connotation". Bullshit! It's a fairly recognizable religious symbol!

Re:Be unselfish

[mj2k]

it is individuals such as yourself that give agnostics/atheists a bad name... the salvation army, just like the red cross, does a lot of good, and helps many people. I don't see any athiest organizations on the scale of the salvation army that exist, if so, please correct me. The salvation army doesn't walk up to you after a disaster and devise some "proselytise for aid" scheme, where you either convert or they walk away... They go out there, help people, and tell people why they are doing that(i.e. spreading the gospel or something of that nature), if the people they help are positively impressed by this, and drawn to go to church after this, is this dishonest? in what way does this put them in the wrong?

Re:Be unselfish

[TheFlyingGoat]

I honestly wouldn't have a problem with it in any situation, since I feel that helping people is far more important than being politically correct. I'm a very religious person, however, so I doubt many other slashdotters would agree.

For those people, I still don't think most would take issue with schoolkids volunteering for the Salvation Army. I've volunteered once for them, and not once was anything religious mentioned to me. It's kind of like the YMCA... it's a Christian organization, but they're not trying to push those beliefs on anyone. They're simply following true Christian principles and trying to help people.

The story I posted the link to was a topic on local talk radio last week. The radio host put out the question: if this was a Wiccan organization, would you have a problem with it. I can honestly say that if they acted in the same way that the Salvation Army does (focusing on helping people and not on pushing an agenda), then I would definitely not have an issue with it.

Re:Be unselfish

[inkey string]

And I don't give a damn. If more churches acted like the SA (shunning promotion, attempting to illustrate the benefit of religion through selfless acts rather than shameless guilting) I would be a lot less leery of organized religion in general.

Don't hate religion. There isn't anything terribly wrong with believing in a power beyond one's self and brotherhood with your fellow man. Hate the corruption and human fallibility that has wound tight over the millenia with the threads of innocent belief.

Re:Be unselfish

[Caspian]

I don't see any athiest organizations on the scale of the salvation army that exist, if so, please correct me.

As far as I am aware, these guys are secular.

And don't go saying "Oh, but they aren't 100% made up of atheists." Duh. As much as you'd like to think otherwise, lack of belief in any given God does not constitute a religion. Any organization with no religious ties (direct or indirect) is, by definition, a secular organization. Goodwill isn't an organization where everyone has to be atheistic, but they are an organization which has no religious affiliation whatsoever. And they're definitely within an order of magnitude of the Salvation Army.

Furthermore, I view the motivations of any religion-affiliated charity with great suspicion and cynicism. Are they really doing good "for goodness's sake", are they doing good so that people will be impressed with their God and convert to worshipping him, or are they doing good to get into heaven? Or some strange mix of the three?

Religious groups who do charitable things are much like businesses who do charitable things-- you have to question their motivations. Yes, they're doing good, but for what reason?

I'd rather they do good things because it's the right thing to do, not as an excuse to talk about their Personal Relationship with Jesus(TM), and not to look good for The Man Upstairs.

Re:Be unselfish

[Seraphim_72]

Thank You for saying this, I would have been a lot less tactfull. The Salvation Army is a great organization. It helps those that no one else will. Does it have Christian trappings? Yup, but who else would fill thier shoes? IMHO they are Christianity at its best. I have trained my children to always put money in the kettle, even if it the last penny in thier pocket. They, of course don't get it yet, but I hope that they never need the SA either.

Sera

Re:Be unselfish

[Caspian]

I stand (sit) corrected. The Salvation Army is evidently between 1-2 powers of ten bigger than Goodwill. Of course, "bigger" doesn't mean "better".

Re:Be unselfish

[BitchKapoor]

I don't see any athiest organizations on the scale of the salvation army that exist, if so, please correct me.

That's because atheism/agnosticism isn't a religious movement per se, it's a personal reaction against the perceived irrationality of religious movements. Most atheists and agnostics are not trying to push a certain set of beliefs onto people, but rather to prevent others from doing that; the idea is that people should be able to decide for themselves what to believe and what not to believe, and not feel pressured by social institutions. Thus the correct question to ask is what have secular charities done, and indeed, they have done a lot. Three prominent secular charities have already been mentioned in this article: Goodwill, CARE, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (established by the Geneva convention, its symbol is derived from the Swiss flag; while some member chapters may have religious associations, it is not a religious organization at the international level). Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF; aka Doctors Without Borders) is another secular medical group, which was founded in reaction to the sometimes overly politically correct neutrality of the Red Cross. Oxfam is also a high-profile secular charity. The list goes on and on; indeed, if you subtract volunteer work and donations which only benefit the facilities and employees of religious institutions, secular charities far outpace religious charities in the United States.

Re:Be unselfish

[DevanJedi]

No I do not address this directly in my article. But the point I am trying to make is not one of altruism; but one of 'giving back to the community'. It's like volunteering for the local library or teaching kids to read. You give back to the community that has helped you to get where you are. These are my virtual communities. Also, I am trying to focus on 'geek' communities; those we could contribute in addition to the Red Cross and Salvation Army... not in place of them.

Re:Be unselfish

[Anonymous Coward]

Another fracking objectivist.

There is a huge difference in the character of someone who helps another because it makes them feel good, and someone who helps another because they get something beyond just feeling good out of it.

Objectivists don't tend to recognize this, because the all mighty prophet, Ayn Rand, didn't recognize it.

Re:Be unselfish

[Secrity]

If the Salvation Army really is Christianity at it's best I really hope that Christians are damned to their own hell.

Re:Be unselfish

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever happened to altruism?

Didn't you hear? It was outlawed during the 1980s due to economic rationalism.

Re:Be unselfish

[macosxaddict]

No, I'm sorry, that is wrong. Christianity is, by definition, a religion. There are many other religions; I hope your comment most of the time Religious folks can't be really called Christian does not consider Christianity to be superior to any of the others. When discussing Christianity, one is, in fact, discussing a particular religion.

Re:Be unselfish

[macosxaddict]

It's a nice idea, but I'd be concerned about preserving the dignity of the family (which is different from how "proud" they are). I'm much happier with your anonymous ideas, since then there would be no one to be embarrassed for.

Re:Be unselfish

[barzok]

I donated to the SA as well back in September, because the timing was just about perfect. I needed to unload a car in a hurry that wasn't worth selling, and they obviously had a lot of work going on that needed funding. I didn't want to give to the Red Cross given various bad experiences friends have had with them firsthand. I tried the National Kidney Foundation, they wanted me to pay them to take the car away.

So I called the SA. He said "well, I couldn't get anyone out there to pick it up till tomorrow, is that a problem?" And I was expecting a couple days to get them to haul it away! The car worked, for the most part (it used oil, the a/c was dead, and the washer fluid didn't squirt - but it carried me 140 miles/day on my commute without much complaint) - given that there were several Katrina-affected families coming to our area, I was hoping that they could give it to one of them. It wasn't a phenomenal car, but if it gets someone from point A to point B for a few months so they can work, it's a win. Or, they may just sell it for scrap.

Either way, it was mutually beneficial - I unloaded the car in a hurry, they got something of value that can help them out.

Re:Be unselfish

[Seraphim_72]

What have they done that would make you say this? What harm have they caused you or yours? I would really like to know.

Sera

Re:Be unselfish

[msblack]

It's rather difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of The Salvation Army. As a religous organizaiton, they do not file an IRS Form 990. I agree with a previous posters that CARE is considered one of the most efficient secular organizations. Giving should be for the sake of giving (a play on the lyrics to the song Good Saint Nick, "So be good for goodness' sake!" There's nothing as horrible as asking people to convert to some religion while giving a helping hand. True selflessness comes from helping others without religous conversion.

Re:Be unselfish

[Sircus]

It's a fairly recognizable religious symbol!

Not really. It was originally the Swiss flag, inverted. The crystal's probably a good idea just to get rid of this misconception.

Re:Be unselfish

[mikefe]

A lot of people who would never knowingly help a church

Let them enjoy their trip to nothingness when they die then.

Re:Be unselfish

[Plunky]

They're not trying to hide it, either; it's not as if they're converting people at the point of a sword, or being dishonest about their motives.

Well, lets not pretend that the christian religion that they represent has never tried the sword approach (and fairly successfully in many cases :)

I'm not really interested in arguing that point however, my biggest concern is your seeming ignorance of the power that food and clothing could have over people who had neither. Do you suppose that just because they are not threatening bloody violence that there is no actual coercion?

I guess that you are looking at this issue from the same side as the religionists who are pushing their viewpoints here, and you think its ok. If you could look at it from the other side, and consider that the basic assumptions of the religionists are plain wrong then it becomes clear that to coerce people into believing frankly ridiculous (and many would consider harmful) ideas merely in order to propagate them endlessly is not a nice thing to do no matter how much sugar you coat them with.

Re:Be unselfish

[Secrity]

Last year, about 11 percent of the US Salvation Army's income came from the US government.

The Salvation Army's mission is to "preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination," according to the organization's Web site. This mission would be very laudable, if it were true in practice.

The US Salvation Army wants to take that taxpayer money and then harrass and discrimate against gays and lesbians in the hiring of the people that Americans' tax money is paying to hire. There are also allegations that the US Salvation Army discriminates in the providing of relief to gay and lesbian people.

Homophobia such as the Salvation Army and certain other "Christian" organizations is engendering has lead people to believe that discrimination, assaults, and even murder of gay men is somehow OK.

A recent article about a legal case regarding Salvation Army harrasmment and discrimination is at http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=113222911236 7 "

Re:Be unselfish

[Secrity]

Would you feel the same way if the public school wanted it's students to volunteer for the Westboro Baptist Church, the Black Ministerial Alliance, or Focus on the Family instead of the Salvation Army?

I honestly wouldn't have a problem with it in any situation, since I feel that helping people is far more important than being politically correct. I'm a very religious person, however, so I doubt many other slashdotters would agree.

I don't give a rat's ass about being politically correct, I do care about organizations that have anti-gay agendas. Harrassment on the job is not a matter of political correctness and I do care that the Salvation Army tolerates the harrassment of gay employees.

Would you really not have a problem with your child doing volunteer work for Westboro Baptist Church, which also has an anti-gay agenda? http://www.westborobaptistchurch.com/ and http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/dec2005/2005120 4_thank-god-for-ieds-killing-marines.pdf

I do not know very much about Wiccans. From what I do know about Wiccans, I do not believe that Wiccans, unlike certain Christian organizations, believe in the bashing of anybody.

Re:Be unselfish

[Angron]

There's a difference between "Volunteer for an organization of your choice for school" and "Volunteer for an organization of your school's choice." If it's a legitimate charity, let them volunteer.

Re:Be unselfish

[Secrity]

OK then, who says what organization is a legitimate charity?

In addition to the Salvation Army, the following churches are all have non-profit status as churches in the US:

* The Westboro Baptist Church

* Metropolitan Community Church

* Unitarian Universalist Church

* Church and School of Wicca

One of the churches listed above says the following:

o The devestation in New Orleans was God's vengeance.

o Sweden is a land of the damned

o When speaking of US Marines killed in an incident in Iraq, the church said "We wish it was 10,000 rather than 10 killed."

Re:Be unselfish

[TheFlyingGoat]

It seems like you're more concerned with whether or not people have a problem with gays and lesbians than whether or not people try helping the poor. That's fine, since that's how your value system is set up, but don't expect everyone else to feel the same way.

In all of your posts, you provided one instance of an SA worked discriminating and the organization not doing anything about it. Although that incident is unfortunate, it doesn't change the fact that the organization as a whole does a lot of good work.

Now if they had a history (read: multiple events) of discrimination, then I might be more likely to agree with you. Your reaction is just as bad as the Christian Coalition wanting to boycott Ford for publishing in a gay magazine. It all comes down to people blowing things out of proportion instead of focusing on what really matters.

Oh, and before you come up with some way that I'm discriminating and therefore evil, you should know that my wife's uncle is gay. He's a great guy and it's his decision to make.

Re:Be unselfish

[Secrity]

The Salvation Army is just another hateful homophobic right wing church. Are you considering that the Salvation Army offered support for Bush's "faith based" initiative if Bush in turn promised to use the legislation to gut local anti-discrimination laws around the country to be one incident? Or are you only considering the recent New York court ruling?

According to Lawrence Moretz, former commissioner of the Chicago Salvation Army, the Salvation Army defends its discrimination based upon "our biblical and traditional position" against Lesbians, Gays and unmarried partners.

What was your wife's uncle's decision to make, the decision to tell you that he is gay?

Re:Be unselfish

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

None of your money goes to "Jesusism." The Salvation Army doesn't try to "convert you." Do we have to condemn one of the few organizations left that actually listens to Christ ("love your neighbor", "sell what you have and give it to the poor", and all that) instead of using religion as an excuse to gain political power? And when have you actually seen the Salvation Army try to further their religion?

Condemning "the cause of Jesusism" is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I won't deny that nominally Christian organizations have done some very evil (and un-Christian) deeds, but that doesn't condemn all Christians. Would you also refuse to, say, give money to the Red Cross because they might give it to Muslims in the recent Pakistan earthquake, and you don't want to further the cause of Mohammedanism?

You're acting even more short-sighted than Jerry Falwell. You say that the Salvation Army has an ulterior motive, their own greed and personal gain; he says that all manner of "sinners" are only giving in to something else (Satan's tempation).

Re:Be unselfish

[mj2k]

I believe this is the crux of our disagreement... How do you define "religion"? One of the definitions of religion by Webster is "A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion."... I would choose a bit broader definition and define religion as one's philosophy of life, one's reason for existence, in essence, "one's practices and principles based on the metaphysical realm"... An atheist in that sense is a believer in his/her specific "religion"... The essence of a religion is a "group of practices/system of beliefs" that guide an individual's daily life. An atheist then has developed his/her own "system of beliefs/practices" based on his/her view of the metaphysical... The atheist bases his/her own actions on their basic supposition that god does not exist, thus man can determine right or wrong, morality is subjective and can and should be established by society (Hume has a remarkable treatise on this). Then atheism have just another belief system, or religion, that is based on subjective morality. I will not argue concerning the absurdities of such a subjective system, Aristotle has done a much better job than I could ever do...

Re:Be unselfish

[TheFlyingGoat]

The Salvation Army might be another "hateful homophobic right wing church", but you come across as having tunnel vision.

I'm sure you've seen the Philly NAACP president's comments about Donovan McNabb, and any reasonable person would say the Philly president was not only wrong, but his comments bordered on racist remarks themselves. Does that mean the NAACP as a whole is the same way? Of course not.

When I lived in downtown Milwaukee, the Rainbow Summer parade went right in front of my apartment. Do I think that all gays and lesbians dress in leather S&M gear, crossdress, or prance about like they're forest fairies (that's the fantasy version of fairies, not the derogatory term)? Of course not.

You have proof (not an editorial article in a gay/lesbian magazine, actual PROOF) that the SA offered support for Bush's faith-based initiative solely in exchange for Bush gutting anti-discrimination laws? Bush's faith-based initiative seems like something the SA would support even without under the table agreements. Your language in your second paragraph is also loaded. You say they defend their "discrimination". I'd be willing to bet they don't consider what they're doing to be discrimination, and therefore it's up to the courts to decide, which they haven't done yet (for that lone instance you provided the link to). If you're referring to some other phantom behavior by the SA, you haven't referred to it in any way other than vague references to some sort of official stance against homosexuality.

Back to the real issue that I'm arguing with you:
If someone chooses to believe that homosexuality is wrong, does that make their good deeds any less helpful? You seem to think it does. It's the same problem that leads to discrimination in the first place... people including or excluding other people based on the person's race, sex, or sexual preference. As a result, you're becoming part of the problem, not part of the solution.

The solution? It's simple... to try looking past differences in each other and treat people based on the good deeds (or bad deeds in some instances) that they do. You don't want to do it, since you seem content generalizing an organization (and as a result generalizing all of its employees and volunteers) and being disgruntled about something that didn't even affect you personally.

As for your snide remark about homosexuality not being a choice, that's your opinion. I have mine. Doesn't mean our other opinions are an less viable... it's just that we disagree on one thing. One thing that honestly doesn't make much of a difference to most people. I don't care if you decided to be gay or were born that way. It doesn't change anything about the way I treat the homosexual friends I have, so what's the big deal.

I'll give you one more example to help you understand the point I'm trying to make. I've known quite a few muslims through various jobs and organizations I've been in. Just because there are a small number of extremists that execute suicide bombings and other terrorist activities, does that mean that muslims are bad people? If you say yes, then you can start hanging out with those few extreme fundamentalist Christians (the one that give Christianity a bad name), since that's what they said after 9/11. Most muslim leaders don't stand up to terrorists, which is unfortunate, but it allows a perfect parallel to the situation with the Salvation Army. Just because there's a handful of bad people in the organization, and just because the organization as a whole doesn't have the same beliefs as you, does not mean that the organization is any less helpful to society.

Re:Be unselfish

[BitchKapoor]

Sure, you can go around arguing that everything is a religion and systematizing the world under this view, but why? There is a huge distinction between most organized religious movements and atheists and agnostics; by lumping them all together, you're just making the term "religion" more vague, which makes it harder for us to talk about it. Religion says, believe this, believe that; I say, why bother with all that mythological bullshit? it just complicates my life, and does nothing good we couldn't do without it. I'd rather admit that I don't know something, and if it matters, pursue earnest study to better understand it, as opposed just make things up so I can claim I'm right.

I'm not really sure what you were trying to get at regarding subjective morality, but I will point out that frank, open dialog is a lot more effective at establishing a strong, practical moral base than dogmatic assertions all around. Sometimes people like to claim that throwing out religion means anything goes, but you know, it's really quite the opposite: when you think you have a magical man in the sky (or one of his agents here on Earth) telling you what to do, you can justify pretty much anything he wants you to do. Sure, if you dump all sense of care and respect along with religion, you're liable to be a loose cannon, but really that's a symptom of the brittleness of the all-or-nothing one-stop-shopping worldviews imbued by organized religion, far from a credit to their moral value. So let's just cut the crap and get on with living simply, carefully and harmoniously.

Glad to see...

[IANAAC]

that taxes are a benevolent reason to give.

Re:Glad to see...

[Anonymous Coward]

Score: -5, Whoosh!

Re:Glad to see...

[sid crimson]

Well... ...by giving a tax deductable donation your money goes farther. I prefer to see good organizations like your local Salvation Army, church, or food bank get 100% of my donation than to keep 60% of it for myself.

Uncle Sam needs to figure out how to do more with less. After all, he keeps counting on me to do the same.....

-sid

Re:Glad to see...

[Guuge]

Well... ...by giving a tax deductable donation your money goes farther.

Yes, but the point is that the motivation behind your donation isn't all that benevolent if you're doing it just for the tax break.

Uncle Sam needs to figure out how to do more with less.

Good news! Uncle Sam is doing more and more, and has less in the bank than ever before!

Re:Glad to see...

[ThaFooz]

Corporations give tax purposes, Oprah & the rest of Hollywood give for PR, Chrisitans give because they think its a ticket to heaven, and middle class white people give to ease their concience. Its all selfish, but it doesn't mean that its not helpful. Isn't the point of society to reward people for doing the "right" thing?

Re:Glad to see...

[turbosaab]

I think you missed the point. So, let me try to explain. Suppose you are willing to donate $100 of your PRE-TAX earnings to charity. If your donation is tax-deductable, you are able to donate $100. If your donation is not tax deducatble, then taxes are taken out of the $100. If you're in a 25% tax bracket, $25 goes to the government, $75 goes to the charity. In other words, the charity gets less.

The myth of making a donation for a tax break is absurd. An individual never comes out ahead by making a charitable contribution. Sure, they may pay less taxes, but as long as taxes are less than 100%, they would have come out ahead by keeping the money minus taxes.

Re:Glad to see...

[djweis]

I don't think you understand how this works. Let's say you get taxed 10% up to $20,000 income and 20% if you made more. You made $21,000 this year. If you make no donation, your taxable income is $21,000 and your tax bill is $4,200. If you donated $1,000 to a charity, your taxable income is $20,000 and your tax bill is $2,000. Your total expenditure is $3,000, much less than $4,200. This is drastically simplified, but illustrates the point.

Re:Glad to see...

[Oberjaeger]

You're the one who doesn't understand how this works.

There are these things called tax brackets, taking your example you would pay 10% on the $20,000 dollars and 20% on the $1,000 dollars above that for a total of $2,200. You don't suddenly pay twice as much tax in total because you made an extra dollar.

Re:Glad to see...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think you understand how this works. Let's say you get taxed 10% up to $20,000 income and 20% if you made more. You made $21,000 this year. If you make no donation, your taxable income is $21,000 and your tax bill is $4,200. If you donated $1,000 to a charity, your taxable income is $20,000 and your tax bill is $2,000. Your total expenditure is $3,000, much less than $4,200. This is drastically simplified, but illustrates the point.

Amazing. You don't know what the hell you're talking about, yet you criticize others who do and spew your ignorance on to the unsuspecting. That is most certainly not how taxes work in the US, or anywhere else I've ever heard of. Now, once you read up on this and realize how wrong you are, instead of simply chalking this up to "whoops, I made a mistake", please ask yourself honestly why you feel the need to sound authoritative on a subject that you clearly have no first-hand experience with. Next time you find yourself tempted to spout off with information that you're not certain about, stop!

Re:Glad to see...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is drastically simplified, but illustrates the point.

Have you ever actually filed a tax return anywhere on this planet?

Here's how it works in my country (USA), using your tax brackets: the first $20,000 of income gets taxed at 10%. Anything over $20,000 gets taxed at 20%. So someone with $21,000 in taxable income payes $2,200 in taxes. Someone with $20,000 in taxable incomes $2,000 in taxes.

Re:Glad to see...

[sid crimson]

Anyone giving anything simply for a tax break needs a clue -- they still wind up with less money. Anyone who takes issue with accepting the tax break should instead accept the tax break and give the saved tax amount as well... and should continue to give until the tax break runs out -- after all it's an opportunity to do more with less. Those opportunities are very few and far between.

I have no problem accepting a tax deduction for giving. Nobody should have a problem with it. Take it if you want... leave it if you want. There is no shame either way. But those who leave it for personal reasons just missed the above opportunity to give *more* than they coudl have otherwise.

-sid

Re:Glad to see...

[nasor]

If any country actually had a tax system like that, you would have a point. In the real world, however, you would be taxed 10% on your first $20,000 and 20% on everything *above* $20,000. So, if you made $20,001 your taxes would be $20,000*0.1 + $1*0.2.

Re:Glad to see...

[turbosaab]

Actually, you don't understand how the tax brackets work. In your example, income is taxed at 10% up to $20,000. The 20% would only apply to the income over $20,000. So tax on $21,000 would be $2,200.

EFF

[wyldeone]

The site's dead, so I can't tell if this was on the list, but defintely everyone should consider donating to the eff. They have done so much good work protecting our digital rights and hopefully they'll be able to continue in the future.

Re:EFF

[DevanJedi]

EFF is on the list. I wrote the article, so I should know :). A big cheer for EFF.. for fighting the battles on behalf of us all.

Documentation projects

[Mostly a lurker]

I tried to RTFA, but the /. effect struck before I had a chance.

An area, often forgotten, that has a huge impact on whether open source products are easily useable is documentation. In this respect, kudos to the OOo documentation project who have done a great job this year.

Useful to a smaller group, but very useful to me this year, has been the excellent Linux Terminal Server Project Wiki.

The usefulness of the above resources is in sad contrast to the documentation available for most open source application software. I am very keen to make more use of some of these products, but a lack of good documentation is pretty much a show stopper.

Re:Documentation projects

[DevanJedi]

OO.o is one of the worthy projects I mention in my article.. now if only this damn slashdot effect could go away, you could all read it!

Quanta

[pherthyl]

Eric Laffoon is asking for donations towards the http://kdewebdev.org/ project. He's been sponsoring a full time developer for years out of his own pocket and could use some help.

http://dot.kde.org/1134848565/

Here's the article

[Trip Ericson]

Season's Givings

Many people around the world plan their charitable giving around this time of the year, for religious, tax or other similarly benevolent reasons. As a geek who spends an inordinate amount of time with around his computer, these are the entities that have made my life easier in the past year and deserve all the recognition, money and general fulfillment of all Amazon Wish List desires:

* Firefox : This has undoubtedly been the year of Firefox. If you aren't using it yet... what are you waiting for? With plugins, extensions, tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking and the fact that it's free and open for all make it the IE-killer that we've all been waiting for.
Get FireFox | Get Involved | Donate

* Wikipedia If this year was the year of Firefox, then Wikipedia was a close second. This is the largest single resource of information ever created by men. They are having their quarterly fund drive; please give generously. Become a contributor; and editor. Many people believe they don't know enough or need to be an expert in order to contribute meaningfully. You don't have to be. I'm no expert and I've written about my home town, my college, my favorite sports team, and other random stuff I find errors or omissions in. Give it a try and enjoy.

* OpenOffice.org : By providing a viable, free and open option to the over-priced monopoly of MS Office, OO.o has shown us a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible.
Contribute

* Fedora : The low-hassle Linux distribution that I've been using for a year or so; a worthy successor to the Red Hat name; easy to get up and running in addition to or in place of that MS OS of yesterday. Contribute

* Gnucash : This year, there was life before Gnucash and then there was life after Gnucash. And life after has been undoubtedly better. This is a smash free and open source personal (and small business) financial accounting tool that blows everything else out of the water- mainly because it's free and extensible to do what you want it to. Gnucash, you've changed my life for the better. I may not save more money than I used to, but at least I know what I'm not saving money on.
Contribute

* Emacs : Emacs, you complete me. 'nuff said.
Contribute

* Adium : There was a time when I would have multiple messenger applications running at the same time. Then came Gaim. There was a time when Gaim was ugly; then came Adium, a tremendous messenger client for the Mac OS that looks great, is extensible (has great plugins) and is free/open.
Donate (donate link at bottom of page)

* NetNewsWire : This piece of software is one of the great RSS readers of the world (for the Mac). In the new year, I will be buying the full version. Easy to use, great to look at and powerful under the hood; this is the app that made turned me into an RSS junky.

* Fink : Fink allows Mac OS to be more Unixey than it already is. With easy to install ports of all major UNIX/Linux packages through the command-line or GUI interface, Mac OS X without Fink is like Windows without Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

* Brattle : The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. is in trouble. If they can't put together enough funding to pay past debts and future leases, they will be closed by February 2006. This is unacceptable- the Brattle is one of few truly independent movie theatres in the country. Without Brattle I would have never seen Casablanca on the big screen and would not have the opportunity to see the 1930s Kin

Re:Here's the article

[HellYeahAutomaton]

"* Brattle : The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. is in trouble. If they can't put together enough funding to pay past debts and future leases, they will be closed by February 2006. This is unacceptable- the Brattle is one of few truly independent movie theatres in the country. Without Brattle I would have never seen Casablanca on the big screen and would not have the opportunity to see the 1930s King Kong on the big screen next month."

Oh c'mon... calling the Brattle 'the big screen' is like calling an iPod a 'home theater'.

Independent and cheesy, yes, but the Brattle is at best like going to a movie in a high school auditorium.

Re:Here's the article

[DevanJedi]

Thanks for helping out... my server has now entered the Slashdot Zone.

Re:Here's the article

[Trip Ericson]

No problem. I happened to catch this article as it appeared and it was already very VERY slow, so I left it open and checked the comments and nobody else had been able to get in it seemed, so I copied and pasted.

Re:Here's the article

[DevanJedi]

Hey, I'd love it if the Brattle had big screens and consistent air conditioning, but unfortunately it's the best we've got. And if people don't act quick, we won't have even the 'cheesy independent' iPod screen theatre.

Re:Here's the article

[UpnAtom]

* Firefox : This has undoubtedly been the year of Firefox. If you aren't using it yet... what are you waiting for?

I'll probably get banned from Slashdot for saying this but I'm not going to wait. It will be years before Firefox catches up to Opera, if ever.

Re:Here's the article

[sparrow_hawk]

Well, given the kind of movies the Brattle is showing (esp. the historical movies), that kind of environment is exactly the "big screen" they were intended to be shown on. Most movies of that era had stereo sound at best, and were shown in theaters converted from other uses. It may not be comparable to our modern idea of the "big screen," with Dolby 7.1 surround sound and a 20-foot high screen, but it's very much the way people used to experience the movies.

What about the Human Fund?

[onemorechip]

in the spirit of Festivus, of course!

Re:What about the Human Fund?

[TheBlairMan]

MUAHHAHAHA I GOT THAT JOKE! Curse you Seinfeld... Either way, Happy Festivus1

Donations to Webhoster...

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps you should give more money to your webhoster, in an effort to improve your bandwidth. Then maybe we could all read your list. :)

"made geek life easier"

[Ka D'Argo]

Apparrently bandwidth wasn't part of that ;p

Penny-Arcade - Child's Play Charity

[SpyderPSU]

http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Re:Penny-Arcade - Child's Play Charity

[AndyboyH]

seconded.
I'm hoping to double my donation to them if I get any form of raise or christmas bonus. The cause means a lot to me, even though people might say that it's no cure for ____. I just think helping kids is something that adults don't prioritise much any more, especially in my city. :|

Re:Penny-Arcade - Child's Play Charity

[Anonymous Coward]

While I understand the Child's Play sentiment, I do doubt the long-term effectiveness of their approach. My problem with them is that they're addressing a symptom (comforting upset children undergoing treatment) - and not addressing any particular root cause (children's illnesses, disease and treatment).

So while Child's Play might make kids feel better and give them a nice Christmas present, it won't help them to get well. It's lowering the solution to the level of the children, rather than raising the solution to the level of adults, doctors and research. I'd rather contributions I made went to stop children from dying, to research of their disease and to prevent long-term side-effects... as opposed to making them happy for a couple of days by giving them a new toy.

I'm trying to be realistic but unsure if I come across as pessimistic or even a little mean...

Re:Penny-Arcade - Child's Play Charity

[sandwiches]

I understand where you're coming from and at the risk of sounding cheesy, I think this is a case where we have to be a little less... reasonable and responsible. I think for many parents, the idea of having their kids feel better now is worth more than research which may not even benefit their kids, at all. With charity you have to remember about the people here that will not be able to take advantage of future science. So, I think Child's Play is a nice balance for all the current charities donating to medical research.

My son's soccer coach

[ashitaka]

You may be expecting a joke about putting up with a bunch of unruly 14-year-olds.

Sorry, he deserves it .

Details here.

Instead of stuff, give time!

[PurifyYourMind]

Why not volunteer at a school in a low income neighborhood? I'm sure young people would love to have an expert computer resource at their disposal. And what better audience for free/open source ideas?

Slashdotting

[mattwarden]

Given the state of your server currently, you might want to put some of those funds towards more bandwidth and hardware.

You've been Slashdotted!

[Anonymous Coward]

You've been Slashdotted! Next time you post a link you may want to ensure your server can withstand the awe that is /.
Blog

Ubuntu

[Risen888]

Whether it's your cup of tea or not, at this moment, no one but no one is building the Linux user base like these guys. The inroads they've been making into what is historically a Microsoft market of end-users are phenominal, and that helps everyone.

And don't get me wrong, they'll take your money with smiles on their faces and love in their hearts, but what they'd really love for Christmas is a little of your time and talent.

Re:Ubuntu

[confusion here]

Ubuntu is funded by an independantly wealthy billionaire. I would hardly consider it a charity.

Re:Ubuntu

[Risen888]

Lots of charities are funded by independently wealthy billionaires. See also: Bill Gates, George H.W. Bush.

Furthermore, the money that Shuttleworth has put into Ubuntu, AFAIK, consisted of $10 million in startup capital. (Yeah, it's a Wikipedia number, I don't know about the accuracy, but there it is.) A significant chunk of money to be sure, but if the number is to be trusted, he's not exactly pouring his financial resources into Ubuntu.

Further-furthermore, the man's not making a dime off it. Which is, of course, the definition of the word 'charity.'

Self-Sufficiency

[turtledawn]

I really like Heifer International (http://www.heifer.org./ You're giving the gift of self-sufficiency to people that really want it: participants ask for help, and recieve training, assistance in building livestock pens and equipment, and depending on their individual and community situation at least one female livestock animal appropriate to their environment. The only thing Heifer asks from the participants in return is that they pass on an equivalent gift to another needy family, in the form of training or the first female offspring of their gift animal. Heifer works all over the world, including the poorer areas of the United States: they have a map on their site that shows current active projects. Due to the nature of their work they have to be in fairly stable areas -you don't want your newly-gifted goats to be stolen and fed to soldiers after all- but those are often the regions that seem to need the most help and that no one know s_how_ to help.

If it helps build their credibility, Heifer has been a Motley Fool choise philanthopy for at least two years now.

Re:Self-Sufficiency

[jkmartin]

Heifer's goals are laudable, but the organization needs improvement. According to CharityNavigator, 20% of the money donated to them is used to...raise more money.

I gave Heifer a not insignificant amount (at least for me) a couple years ago and spent most of the next year trying to get them to stop asking me for more money.

Re:Self-Sufficiency

[WillAdams]

::applause::

The church I attended down in Virginia gave a ``Noah's Ark'' each year --- the letters, cards and pictures the priest would get from recipients were really charming.

Each recipient is also expected to donate in kind to others a certain number of their animal's off-spring. As a proof of the long-lasting nature of such giving, over half of the chickens in South Korea are descended from chicks and eggs donated by Heifer Intl. directly after the Korean War.

William

Another Idea

[keithmo]

• Take 10 $100 bills.
• Spend one day giving them (anonymously, if you wish) to people you see every day who make your life easier and who could really use the money. The "single mother" waitress who keeps your coffee cup filled at your favorite breakfast place. The anonymous immigrant who cleans the bathroom at your office. The teenage student who sacks your groceries when not studying for an exam. The elderly person working at the fast-food joint because they cannot survive on their retirement benefits.

These are the faceless people who keep our society running. We all depend on them.

No, you cannot deduct these donations from your taxes, but fuck it. Do it anyway.

Re:Another Idea

[Dirtside]

Great idea! Uh, do you have $1,000 I can borrow?

Maybe ten $10 bills would be a more practical idea for those of us who aren't rich.

Re:Another Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you could invest the money and let the free market to help the poor and unemployed. You might even make a little profit.

Re:Another Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you could hire 50 illegal immigrants for $20 a day for one day. You could take over a small town!

Re:Another Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

let the free market to help the poor and unemployed

The free market's had thousands of years, and the poor and unemployed are still there. Maybe it's time to give another system a chance?

Good Gift Guide online (UK)

[gibbsjoh]

The Good Gift Guide has a whole load of "alternative" charitable gifts available via their online store, things like a goat for an African family, Ducks for Peace and whatnot... quite groovy. The World Vision organisation does something similar but I've never used it myself.

Good Gift Guide

World Vision's Great Gifts

Better yet...!

[John Nowak]

Take 100000 pennies.
Throw one at everyone that pissed you off this year!!

ARHGH!

Re:Better yet...!

[ucblockhead]

Not enough pennies.

Re:Better yet...!

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally, Jack Thompson will make some cents.

Vim/Ugandan Orphans

[fyoder]

If we're going to include emacs, we should include vim -- equal time and all that.

Bram Moolenaar isn't looking for donations to himself or the project, but would prefer vim users donate to iccf, an organization that helps kids in Kibaale, Uganda. Here's a link to a copy of the readme file.

Re:Vim/Ugandan Orphans

[Niten]

No mod points, but I'll second that...

Re:Vim/Ugandan Orphans

[HardCase]

Egads, donating to a Christian organization? This is /., after all - look at how hard the Salvation Army got smacked!

-h-

Child Haven

[Phantasmo]

I usually give to Child Haven International, because I've met the organizers on several occasions and they're very dedicated to helping disadvantaged children.

Later in the year I usually make a small contribution to one geeky project (last year it was mozdev), and to my progressive political party of choice.

I have my own list of F/OSS projects

[Noksagt]

These are the projects that have been worthy of my money. There are donation links and methods of payment listed:
http://arc.nucapt.northwestern.edu/F/OSS

Fire!

[Dachannien]

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education works to protect the free speech rights of students across the U.S., with a special focus on public colleges and universities, which are bound by Constitutional mandate to preserve freedom of speech. They are especially in need of donations from people who've already moved on to start their careers, since college students typically don't make that much money.

Re:Fire!

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the website carefully before you write your check to this one, because its politics would not sit well with most Slashdotters. It is an organization that is co-opting the terms "free speech" and "individual rights" to promote its ultra-conservative political agenda. It dedicates itself to harassing faculty and disrupting institutional efforts (like scholarships or student services) to improve access and retention for historically oppressed groups.

Re:Fire!

[Jonathan the Nerd]

Read the website carefully before you write your check to this one, because its politics would not sit well with most Slashdotters.

What politics? Is it their assertion that freedom of speech extends to speech that other people may find offensive? That people shouldn't be punished for saying things that go against current ideas? That people should be treated equally, regardless of whatever racial, religious, or other group they belong to? Or am I missing something?

Also, if you'll take a look at FIRE's case listing, you'll see that they defend liberal speech as well as conservative.

Re:Fire!

[Anonymous Coward]

The FIRE case list is very heavily skewed toward positions favored by political and social conservatives, and their stance against programs aimed at recruiting and retaining people from underrepresented populations (defined by ethnicity, sexual identity, etc.) is disturbingly reactionary.

People may choose to call it "treating everybody the same," but these so-called colorblind policies ignore our history and provide statistical cover for institutional systems that *continue* to provide disproportionately generous access and services to the already privileged while pushing people of color into service and manufacturing-sector employment.

Re:Fire!

[nasor]

"The FIRE case list is very heavily skewed toward positions favored by political and social conservatives..."

That's because it is far more common for liberal schools to punish conservative speech than for conservative schools to punish liberal speech. FIRE is happy to defend liberal students who have their free speech rights threatened by conservative administrations. It just doesn't happen that often. This is probably partly because conservative schools tend to be private, which exempts them from having to obey the 1st Amendment.

"...and their stance against programs aimed at recruiting and retaining people from underrepresented populations (defined by ethnicity, sexual identity, etc.) is disturbingly reactionary."

Sorry to have to break this to you, but most slashdotters have a distinctly libertarian bent and probably wouldn't (on average) support affirmative action.

You could be Time Person of the Year Too!

[Chabil Ha']

Hey, if you give enough, maybe you could outshine billy boy, and be time person of the year

Is the Salvation Army Bashing Gays?

[Secrity]

What about the Salvation Army social worker who claims that his supervisor harassed him because he is gay and Jewish and then fired him when he complained?

Also, the Salvation Army has been lobbying to include a special provision that would allow them to discriminate against hiring homosexuals and still receive federal funding.

Re:Is the Salvation Army Bashing Gays?

[Anonymous Coward]

I expect them not to be allowed to discriminate in their hiring practices.

Re:Is the Salvation Army Bashing Gays?

[stephencrane]

Purty much, yeah. There's really no issue here, unless one if forcing beliefs on others. Mind you, I love the SA. I think the Red Cross (also a christian organization in case anyone didn't notice that) gets too much press and coverage. The Salvation Army is wierd and cryptic at times, but they are more efficient, they never require their clients to adhere to a set of beliefs or listen through a sermon (anymore). That said, firing someone who's Jewish or gay is retarded unless they're opening up a synogogue or a swing club on SA property. j.b.

Re:Is the Salvation Army Bashing Gays?

[Anonymous Coward]

OK. I still find it extremely silly for a homosexual jew to work for the Salvation army. To me it sounds
like someone in search of a confrontation, so he can bitch about it. It is great when organizations
"respect people", but then people can show some respect too. It goes both ways.

Are You sure that the Red cross is specifically christian? I don't think so. As far as I know, the symbol was
derived from the swiss flag (the colors are inverted), because of the neutrality connotation.

Re:Is the Salvation Army Bashing Gays?

[TheoMurpse]

links?

Re:Is the Salvation Army Bashing Gays?

[Secrity]

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=113222911236 7 http://atheism.about.com/b/a/220978.htm http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jul2001/fait-j23 .shtml http://mediastudy.com/articles/av3-28-02.html http://ethics.lacity.org/EFS2003/index.cfm?fuseact ion=lobreports.clientbyfirm&year=2001 Search for Salvation Army, check later years too. http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/b_thr ee_sections_with_teasers/clientlist_page_D_E.htm Search for Salvation Army

Chistmas Lights Webcam for Celiac Disease

[xmas2003]

The infamous (!) christmas lights webcam is raising money for Celiac Disease Research at the University of Maryland. There is also a whimsical eBay auction of "The Webcam that Fooled the World" - again, 100% of proceeds to charity.

And oh yeah, I've got five 100 Mbps servers (1/2 Gig of bandwidth!) this year, so my site hasn't melted down like the one linked to in this article has ... ;-)

Re:Chistmas Lights Webcam for Celiac Disease

[Anonymous Coward]

How did you get that much bandwidth?

Re:Chistmas Lights Webcam for Celiac Disease

[ScottCooperDotNet]

If you link to the webcams Komar will create a special pop-up for your link if it has enought traffic. Don't ask what a friend wrote about it, nor what Komar had the pop-up say... ok?

Doctors Withouth Borders

[corporatewhore]

Doctors Without Borders usually gets a good chunk of my donations. I think they do great work all over the world, with little overhead...

Re:Doctors Withouth Borders

[danfreak]

Amen, mod parent up etc...

Great organisation, not only providing essential medicine and care for hundreds of thousands, but sharing expertise with doctors and nurses from host countries... Are increasingly my favourite charity, especially for being major suppliers of antiretroviral drugs for people with AIDS. Go Medicine Sans Frontiers!!!

Helping the needy

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems that this guy is encouraging us to give money, time, etc. to groups that have been beneficial to us during the past year.

There's nothing wrong with that. Giving to charities is a great thing, and certainly, the guy is free to give to whomever he wants. But I think it is very important also to help people based on how great their need is, rather than what they have done for us.

There are people suffering from AIDS, violenceI don't know about this..., and famine (especially in Africa) who need our help. In Western countries, there are homeless people, drug addicts, prisoners, the elderly. These are all people who deserve respect, love, and human dignity.

It is fine to give to GNOME et. al., but when you do that, please remember the less fortunate as well.

Geeks can help Seniors

[toekneeshops]

There is a wonderful non-profit that is based in the U.S. but is growing worldwide called SeniorNet (see http://www.seniornet.org/ which teaches older people how to use computers. If you have a local Seniornet Learning Center, you can donate time teaching or coaching classes, you can donate useable equipment, or you can donate money. You may even be able to just donate technical advice. You would not believe the look of happiness on old folks' faces when they find pictures of their grandkids on the Internet for the first time, or they find out there is a support community for their particular painful disorders. Volunteer! It's a great help and a great feeling!

Give the right amount to the right places

[alphorn]

Think about how many Africans will die (malnourishment, diseases) because you use your "charity" budget on stuff that makes your life better.

Think about exactly why you would be outraged if millions of people died of hunger or cold (think Pakistan) in your country, yet this is not such a big deal if it happens far enough away.

Think about how much suffering could be prevented if you gave 10% of your income, how little suffering that would cause you, and why you (like most people) consider it okay to give much less than that.

International Red Cross
Médécins sans frontières
UN World Food Programme

Re:Give the right amount to the right places

[DevanJedi]

You speak about me (I wrote the article in question) as if you know me.

Think about exactly why you would be outraged if millions of people died of hunger or cold (think Pakistan) in your country

Well, I've lived in India for 15 years of my life- so my country is one where millions die of hunger, heat, cold, malaria and many things worse than that.

and why you (like most people) consider it okay to give much less than that.

Why do you think you know where I donate money or how much? Or what I consider to be acceptable charity. My article is just about giving back to the virtual communities that helped you get where you are. That is, in addition to all the worthy causes out there. Don't think you know me just because you read two lines I put up on Slashdot.

Re:Give the right amount to the right places

[FleaPlus]

My article is just about giving back to the virtual communities that helped you get where you are. That is, in addition to all the worthy causes out there. Don't think you know me just because you read two lines I put up on Slashdot.

Yeah, I'm not sure what's up with all the comments here condemning you because you discussed ways to give back to the open source community instead of starving orphans or whatever. I mean, all those things are good, but there's also merit in giving to people who do good work and create software which helps us in our day-to-day lives. Thanks for typing up the list.

Perhaps you need to learn something about them

[Anonymous Coward]

It might tell you something that a lot of people don't even realize the Salvation Army is part of a religious group. Most of the member really are committed to helping others, regardless of their religious stance. And, no, I'm not a member of their church.

Habitat for Humanity

[Comatose51]

I'm a core volunteer for Habitat and it is definitely one of my favorite charities. It's very unique in that it provides housing but also makes the recipients get involved as helping themselves and their neighbors. The way it works is that the recipient must volunteer for X number of hours with Habitat and they end up either working on the home they'll move into or one of their neighbors' homes since Habitat tends to build entire neighborhoods. So they end up knowing each other from the start.

It's also great for those who want to help but don't have the extra cash. It helps me meet some great people who I would normally never meet and I've met a few "nerds" (professors, engineers, etc). The only caveat is that Habitat is a Christian organization but they're pretty light on that and never presses anyone on religion. I'm a devout atheist and have enjoyed working with other volunteers who are often church affliated.

It's a little late to do it now for the holiday season since a house takes some time to complete but try it for the next holiday season. One can imagine the emotion when the key is handed over to the new owners during the holiday season.

this year I gave to...

[Gyorg_Lavode]

This year I gave to Childs Play from Penny Arcade, Through my parish, and to a charity dance (I think toys for tots distributed the gifts). Basically I give through organizations that represent me; as a gamer, as religious, and as a social dancer =).

If you can...

[Cmdr_earthsnake]

then consider giving a bit of money to a set of fairly non-biased organisations such as...

This may sound common and like a cliche.. but oxfam do actually make a difference to the world and as such their motto "working to put an end to poverty world-wide" shows. http://www.oxfam.org/

Wikipedia also offer a.. well.. biased but ultimately helpful list of possible causes to give your money to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_to_donate_sites

Also giving your money to your family through presents and to people you like and such is a worthy cause in my opinion, christmas is supposed to be a time of giving and sharing and joy,enjoy it. :)

Medecins sans frontieres

[haelduksf]

http://www.msf.org/ Nobel peace prize winners helping african orphans, how much better can it get?

your local animal shelter

[Anonymous Coward]

Donate to your local animal shelter / humane society. They're always short of supplies and money. You can also put those geek skills to use and set up web pages and such for them.

Not a geek thing, but....

[stoolpigeon]

If you are a Christian and looking for somewhere to give, I am a part of the I.T. group for the world's largest evangelical mission group. You don't even need to get up from where you are sitting right now if you would like to help us out. You can just go here

Our web site has more info.

CharityNavigator

[boingo82]

It's not geeky, but I recommend Charity Navigator.

It is like Consumer Reports for charities. It tells you what % of your contribution actually goes to helping people, compares the charity to others of similar mission and size, tells you how much the CEO makes, etc.

Especially in light of all the fradulent charities that sprung up after Hurricane Katrina, I think it's a valuable site to make sure your money goes where you wanted it to.

Great Math Program in Minnesota

[LawnBoy]

UMTYMP (University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program) is a great program in Minnesota that lets junior high and high school students get a leg up by studying high school and college math early. I was in the program, and it allowed me to finish all four years of high school math in junior high and take a year-and-a-half of college calculus my 9- and 10th grade years (I had to drop out because of other activities).

It's one of the best programs I've seen in the country for encouraging advanced athematics education.

Why not ask the other geeks ?

[ErrorBase]

Scientific American: Top Sci/Tech Gifts 2005
Holiday presents for the science- and technology-minded

FIRST Robotics

[cashman73]

Surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet on this site. One worthy charity to donate to is FIRST Robotics (website). FIRST was founded by Dean Kamen (the Segway guy) and involves a high school robotics competition in which teams from different schools design and build a robot, from the ground up, starting in January of each year when they learn the task and game that the robot is supposed to participate in for the year. Then, in March, is the actual competition. Regional Competitions occur a a variety of locations throughout the US, and ending with a national competition in early April.

The event is a lot of fun, both for the students as well as for the volunteers. FIRST regional and national competitions are largely run by a large army of volunteers, so they need lots of manpower to help with running the game and other things. Volunteers are also needed as mentors on teams, assisting the students with building the robots and teaching them various engineering and programming related tasks (plenty of opportunity for geeks to get involved ;-). Of course, they are also in need of financial donations, too.

Planned Parenthood

[pkulak]

I give almost all of my charitable monies to Planned Parenthood. They are the closest thing to public health care that the US has, and I believe that reproductive health care is the most important form. Give a woman the resources to delay pregnancy until she has the resources to support that child and you've got two less people in line at the soup kitchen. Although, food banks are a VERY close second on my list of charitable priororities.

Re:Planned Parenthood

[/dev/trash]

You can't be serious

Re:Planned Parenthood

[Anonymous Coward]

Neato...donating to an organization that promotes murder. What a great cause!

WRONG!! Mod parent down!!

[rinkjustice]

That's a lie. I've volunteered at the food bank and they have strict policies about that stuff, and besides, most people who volunteer or work at a food bank really do care about the community.

You should be ashamed for even mentioning such a rare occurance and deterring people from helping others.

Project Gutenberg

[CaptKilljoy]

Project Gutenberg is my charity of choice. What could be greater than giving the world access to the collected works of the worlds great thinkers and writers?

Good old fasioned volunteering

[ModernGeek]

I've started volunteering for my local volunteer fire department, and I think it is the best thing I could have done. I get to help out people in more than one way too. We do all sorts of community service events, and it is a great way to make new friends. You can't go wrong with the good old fashion volunteer FD, and most departments are always open to new help.

Hrmm

[NanoGator]

Well, I've typically gotten geeky gifts for Toys for Tots. (i.e. Some kid got a Game Boy last year...) My main reason for this for this was that my dad did not make lots of money when I was growing up. Things like NES's were well out of my father's range to purchase. One day, though, he scraped together enough to get me a used Game Boy. Not long after, I developed a strong interest in game programming and found a whole new use for the computer he had gotten me. (this was partly fueled by not having a steadily growing library of games, so I spent a considerable amount of time wondering how they worked...) Today I'm quite happy with how life turned out. Most Walmarts and Best Buys have collection boxes for these sorts of gifts. As a matter of fact, the Best Buy I went to recently had a "donate $10 to Toys for Tots" option while purchasing. Maybe t'is the season for a contribution like that?

Since I can't load the page at hand, I thought I'd at least offer this other little suggestion that's more on-topic. I don't know about the OSS world, but I work in 3D for a living. Lots of people have written very helpful little scripts to make the 3D work more pleasant. Most of those people have a paypal donate button. I think this year I'm going to shake loose a little loot in their direction. (Come to think of it, I feel a little bad for not doing this sooner.) I'm sure there are plenty of OSS places that'll take contributions.

faces...

[YesIAmAScript]

So the faces you see get money, eh?

The guy who makes sure the traffic lights on the way to work don't go green both ways and gets you killed gets nothing?

I don't mean to sound like Mr. Pink here, but this is a great example of how baffling the rules for who gets a gratuity are.

Perhaps you could ask yourself, if I'm only giving it to people I see and not the most deserving regardless, who am I really doing it for?

Re:faces...

[DirePickle]

Amen! I feel really sorry for those poor little leprechauns living in the traffic lights. Day in, day out, flipping the little switch from green to yellow to red.

Re:faces...

[Trogre]

Because when you can see them you guarantee they get the money.

Probably not the best charity system, but a darn sight better than most others. Maybe it is self-gratifying to get a 'thank you' from the recipient but that's hardly selfish.

How are you going to track down mr traffic light maintainer, through the utility company? Yes, just leave the $100 bill at the front desk and they'll take care of it for you.

Bah Humbug!

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to admit - I was one of the most giving'est people I personally know, and I was on track to up the ante after this year's promotion and raise.
Couple hundred dollars worth of toys to Toys for Tots, a healthy chunk of change for the woman's shelter, Red Cross, Salvation Army, and the United Way - all scheduled to increase (because I could) - but all that came to a screeching halt on June 11th, 2005.

Driving to work at 6:55am, not another single car on the road, crest a hill on the outskirts of town so I took my foot off the gas so as to keep it slow and safe. Headlights on for safety. Seatbelt on for safety. Not jabbering on the phone (for safety). Pass a 30 mph sign and 10 seconds later I'm greeted with the electronic bubble gum machine. I roll to a stop directly under a 35mph sign, and that motherfucker writes me 40 in a 20. I start to disagree with him but, alas, he had a gun and I did not - so I was bound to lose that disagreement. He even went back and looked to see that there was no 20mph sign - but quotas are quotas and by golly he was going to be right and I was going to be wrong, and it is simple as that.

It didn't take too much correlation to see that he was representing the community on this instance and it was at that instant that Officer McCain did what hundreds of terrorists were unable to do - he broke my community spirit in a particularly harsh way. If the people that give back to the community so strongly can't drive to work without being terrorized - then the community as a whole has failed with corrupt cops leading the way. Funny thing is - every person I have sat down with and discussed it with in depth has seen the correlation and also put an end to charitable giving ... I count an easy $12,000 this year alone that people are going to be keeping. I guess it doesn't take much arm-twisting to convince people to keep their hard earned money, esp when they understand that they may be next in the radar-man's sights.

In Iraq the Marines are killing corrupt cops that terrorize the citizens, yet here in the States they run rampant.

My driving returns to clean status in 5 years. If I can look back and remember why I became so angry at the community after then, perhaps I will resume giving. If I hold that grudge long after I remember why (it happens) - maybe not.

I wasn't always this angry, bitter. As a highly trained water safety professional (a few years ago) I was personally and individually responsible for saving the lives of not one, but two young people (a child, and a young adult.) There are two people alive today if for no other reason than my actions and my actions alone. I am so angry even to this day that next year while I am on the beach if I stand alone between life or death, I will let that person die and follow up with a letter to the surviving family, let them know that if Officer McCain had written me a warning instead of a damn ticket, their child would still be alive.

Been reading too much /. today...

[Anonymous Coward]

I read that and thought, "SomethingAwful is a church??"

Give the Gift of Justice This Year

[David Greene]

I'm reading about people giving to food banks, Oxfam, Heifer, etc., all certainly worthy causes. But one of the things we are very good at doing is doing charity while ignoring justice.

It's the difference between helping the poor and working to eliminate the things that cause us to have poor people in the first place.

Consider giving to ISAIAH (Minnesota), MOSES (Detroit), UCM/MCU (St. Louis) or your local Gamaliel affiliate. These groups are organizing citizens to take back our government and ensure that we live in a society that reflects our broadly shared values including fairness, equal opportunity, community, hope and shared abundance.

Even better, give money and get involved . This is the civil rights movement of our time. We can no longer sit on the sidelines; we must engage our elected officials and each other to build the communities we want to live in.

Oops

[ishmalius]

Yes, I'm sorry if I sounded like I was preaching. I didn't mean to. But the article is an "Ask Slashdot" category item, so I really meant to just give an alternative.

As a purely 'geek' thing, I might ask if the MIT $100 computer project needs any help. It would be a shame if the project needed to buy all of its technology, when there are so many good minds out there.

Re:Oops

[DevanJedi]

Yeah, but MIT could afford to put a few dozen graduate students on the job ;)

Re:Oops

[ishmalius]

And I'm also sorry about igniting this little firestorm of controversy.... But, really.. who could hate the Salvation Army?

As an alternate, I also suggest Doctors Without Borders, or in 'Internationale', Medicins Sans Frontiers. A lot of doctors and nurses from here (Houston) are members of this wonderful organization.

Both of your experiences are anecdotes.

[jotaeleemeese]

You can't brand such a comment a lie just because your experience is different.

Please use logical thinking. The world is not ideal, it is worth listening to people with bad experiences in order to remain vigilant.

Giving mine to the Nazis

[infoterror]

I'm donating all spare money to the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party at www.nazi.org.

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a damn good idea. I've read the site materials at www.nazi.org, and they make a hell of a lot of sense; first nationalist site i've come across which doesn't froth at the mouth with bigotry and bitterness.

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

The Libertarian National Socialist Green Party is an organization that cares about preserving the important things in this world such as: the national environment, human diversity, culture, and tradition. Don't let your pre-concieved notions you may have about National Socialism get the best of you, they are not bigots and thus people of all ethnicities are welcome to join; in fact, if you browse the website's forum, you will meet individuals from all different corners of the globe. The LNSGP has a very simple, yet important mission to accomplish: To preserve a world full of diverse races and cultures all living in equilibrium with this beautiful planet.

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

That is just a great side,not like this neonazi or racists side you find nowdays.
I ike to contribute my respect to the people there.

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

LNSG's is a great place to give your money. Everyone should check it out at www.nazi.org

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

Every year I like to give back 5% of my yearly earnings to charities that harmonize with my reflections of what I've learned that year. Call it karmic hope or whatever, but it strikes me as the right way to show my appreciation for what the world has given me and provides me with a deep, fulfilling connection.

This year I've earmarked all 5% for the LNSG (www.lnsg.org) to help their social and environmental programs. I've been teaching my children about the lies of both right-wing and left-wing propaganda, using the excellent debunking of myths, supersition, and academic fraud that the writers of this cite document. It's opened my eyes and energized me for both social activism and local political participation.

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[infoterror]

That's why I don't mind supporting them. I'm a nationalist and eugenicist, but I hate the idiot bigots who want to blame all the world's problems on black people. If we separate races, it's not because we hate negroes. It's because we want to preserve ourselves. It doesn't have anything to do with blacks! Most "nationalist" sites are filled with losers who are full of hate and totally counterproductive, like nordish.net, vnnforum.com, stormfront.org, etc. and I won't support them, but the LNSG gets my holiday dollar!

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm impressed by their material and have decided to make them the beneficiary of my holiday charity.

Thanks for sharing that URL!

Cheers,
Charles Gibson

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

What an interesting site. Not at all the sterotype of Nazi's,these guys make sense! Finally, a group that cares about the planet that isn't stuck on the left. Everyone should check this out!

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a black panther and I gave some money to the LNSGP. Nicest bunch of guy's I've ever met.

Re:Giving mine to the Nazis

[Anonymous Coward]

This is interesting to hear from a Black Panther, as I am a Cherokee nationalist; I find this form of nationalism to be a breath of fresh air from the loser mentality of mainstream White-Nationalists/Supremacists/Neo-Nazis; with a few alterations, this (the LNSGP's) political philosophy can be applied to all nations/tribes all over the world!

Give blood!

[edesio]

At least here in Brazil, by the year's end there is a need for blood donors. With all the parties, there are lots of (traffic) accidents and people hurt, often needing blood transfusion. You can help, visit your city hemocenter and donate.

They forgot...

[SeaFox]

BitTorrent!

Wikipedia is a good choice, especially given the founder having just been murdered by the wife of that stupid Op-Ed columnist. I find it ironic the way this turned violent given how outraged he was at being associated with the Kennedy assassination.

Thats the same combination on my suitcase

[Anonymous Coward]

see subject

xbox 360 to support Charity Bike Ride to Alaska!

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but in the spirit of this thread...

I'm actually selling an xbox on ebay to raise money for the Texas 4000 for Cancer annual charity bike ride to Alaska. There's 50 of us riding our bikes (that's bicycles, not motorcycles) from Austin, TX to Anchorage, AK this summer to raise money for the American Cancer Society, and to raise awareness of cancer issues. It's a distance of a little over 4,500 miles, and we take 70 days to cover it. Comes out to about 80 miles per day. We also volunteer at a bunch of cancer wards and children's hospitals along the way, and give lots of cancer awareness and prevention talks.

It's a pretty awesome cause, so I'm hoping someone who is looking for an xbox agrees. :) Plus the auction is fully tax deductible because we are registered non-profit. :)

Here's the link if you are interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =8244521959

If you want to check out the charity ride, you can find us at http://www.texas4000.org/

Give to Free Geek

[mrs clear plastic]

Free Geek is a computer recycling and community technology center in Portland Oregon who re-uses old computers and give them to those who cant' afford them and to non-profits. They are an entirely Linux shop as it makes it easier to give computers away if they have Linux on them.

Your dogma's running over your karma.

[Valdrax]

...Or, you know, if you're not a bitter and hateful ideologue, you could just go ahead and donate to the Salvation Army anyway. They do actually do good work, ya know? It's not like charity for the Lord is any less a heartfelt act of kindness.

Re:Your dogma's running over your karma.

[Caspian]

It's not like charity for the Lord is any less a heartfelt act of kindness.

I beg to differ.

If you're only being charitable because you believe an invisible man in the sky is watching everything you do, I must question your true motives. Are you doing what's right for right's sake, or because you think it will impress the man upstairs?

Re:Your dogma's running over your karma.

[Valdrax]

If you're only being charitable because you believe an invisible man in the sky is watching everything you do, I must question your true motives. Are you doing what's right for right's sake, or because you think it will impress the man upstairs?

You have a very thin and superficial understanding of religion, if you believe that Christians only act good because they're "tying to impress the invisible man in the sky." What makes you think that only people who are atheists can do what is right because they believe it's right?

There are three broad categories of Christian:
1) Christians who have never thought about being anything else.
2) Christians who were raised Christian and decided to choose to stay Christian.
3) Christians who were not raised Christians but saw something in Christianity that moved them to believe.

(Note that you can unplug Christian and put in any other religion in the above categories that allows conversion. Religions that don't allow conversion drop the third type.)

The first kind of Christian is often a shallow believer who are conform to the stereotype that atheists tend to have about people who practice religions. In this modern very secular age, they're a minority (but a large one). Most Christians fall into the other two categories, and not that many people do it because they've been rattled by the old fire & brimstone speeches that used to be common in the Puritan era but because there's something there that completes them and that conforms well to their personal sense of right and wrong.

In other words, most Christians choose to be Christians (instead of other religions) because it was what they found that best matched their internal sense of right and wrong, whether that was because they were raised to think that way or because they found it later. A great many may have some sort of transformative moment that shakes them from complacency into belief, but for most real faith comes later.

Now, I'm not going to try to convert you to Christianity, but I do hope to convert you to the principles of tolerance in others. You can't go insulting the kindness of others because they are driven by different inspirations than you. That's just hateful and self-defeating. You cut off your nose to spite your face.

What motives do you have for charity? Why do you practice altruism. For Christians it's very much the same. Sure, feelings of duty or a desire to show the value of Christianity by its good deeds alone may motivate people at the start, but those who stick with it will do it because of the same feelings that come from making the world a better place that drives secular volunteers. We just like to hope that God inspired us to do it, not that God'll sure be impressed with it. Guilt or brown-nosing can't sustain the self-sacrifice needed for long-term altruism.

Also, the Salvation Army does not minister to people directly. The point of the Salvation Army is to do good deeds because they need to be done (in the eyes of Christian morality about alleviating poverty). They don't preach because it might alienate the people they're trying to help. It's not about converting people (unlike Alcoholics Anonymous). It's about doing what the Bible says is a good thing for other people even if you're not doing it because the Bible says you should. The Salvation Army frequently takes on atheists and members of other religions. They don't ask. It's just assumed that you're there to help because you want to and anything else is just a distraction to the work. There is no reason to spite them just because they're largely made up of Christians. To do so is just plain bigotry.

Re:Your dogma's running over your karma.

[Caspian]

There is no reason to spite them just because they're largely made up of Christians.

I beg to differ with you.

Christianity isn't some warm, fuzzy religion. It's a religion that believes that all nonbelievers are going to be sent into a fiery pit forever ("where their worm shall not die", a place filled with the sounds of "gnashing of teeth"). It's also a religion based on the ridiculous Old Testament (Full disclosure: I am of Jewish stock, so this includes my birth faith too) which, in addition to condemning homosexuality and ordering the murder of anyone found having gay sex, condones slavery. You're allowed to sell your own daughter as a 'female slave' (read: 'sex slave'). In fact, you can even literally beat your slaves to death, so long as they persist (in suffering) for at least a day or so after the beating before expiring.

All of this is (or "was"*) supposedly written directly under the influence of Yahweh. Put plainly, if God exists, he is a TOTAL ASSHOLE, and not worth worshipping in the slightest. Don't believe me? Actually read your Bible. Including the parts you'd rather ignore, like all the "if a person [does X], they shalt be stoned to death" garbage in Leviticus.

Whether or not you believe it still applies, it's supposedly still part of the "holy", "God-inspired", "infallible" Bible.

I also find it quite amusing that you accuse me of following "dogma". I'm not the one hewing to a belief, against all evidence, that an invisible man lives in the sky and that he wrote a big book 2,000 years ago.

* (for those who believe Jesus's death changes things; does it really make God sound that much better that he "used to" tolerate this sort of garbage as opposed to tolerating it today?)

NeoOffice for Macintosh

[wheatwilliams]

NeoOffice is a Java port of OpenOffice.org that runs on Mac OS X without the need for X11.

This means that it uses Mac OS X's fonts and font rendering, which is a huge improvement over X11. It has Mac OS X menus, and will get Mac OS X dialog boxes "real soon now".

It's excellent, and it's been developed by two, count them two, programmers for the last couple of years.

http://neooffice.org/

They are separate from OpenOffice.org and they've done what nobody at OpenOffice.org was willing to do.

I use NeoOffice every day (word processing and spreadsheet). I made a donation to them last week.

Political Action Groups

[curtvdh]

Being a far left wing liberal, I donate to the ACLU and Americans United, Being a humanist, I also frequently donate blood. I feel that this is a more tangible gift than cash.

Other Donation Ideas

[kahrytan]

Red Cross, cash or whole blood.

Homeless Shelters that help homeless people get back on their feet. The Union Missions are a good example.

Goodwill Industries. It's not just a thrift store. They actually help low income and disabled people get work. Income from stores and donations pays for the training of students

Operation Blessing. Though faith based, Operation Blessing hands out food to people around the world. They also have a jet that has doctors and dentists and helps people across the globe. I've volunteered there few times.

Buying a ANY Linux Distribution from any retail store.

Getting beyond paternalism

[FleaPlus]

Many of the comments here are condemning the article submitter for wanting to give to giving money to open-source projects, saying that he should instead give money to, say, starving orphans in Africa or South America. I think people would do well to read a recent op-ed in the NY Times (commentary in WorldChanging) by a former Peace Corps worker in Africa about why just dumping money in poor countries isn't such a good thing. Some quotes:

It seems to have been Africa's fate to become a theater of empty talk and public gestures. But the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help - not to mention celebrities and charity concerts - is a destructive and misleading conceit. Those of us who committed ourselves to being Peace Corps teachers in rural Malawi more than 40 years ago are dismayed by what we see on our return visits and by all the news that has been reported recently from that unlucky, drought-stricken country. But we are more appalled by most of the proposed solutions.

I am not speaking of humanitarian aid, disaster relief, AIDS education or affordable drugs. Nor am I speaking of small-scale, closely watched efforts like the Malawi Children's Village. I am speaking of the "more money" platform: the notion that what Africa needs is more prestige projects, volunteer labor and debt relief. We should know better by now. I would not send private money to a charity, or foreign aid to a government, unless every dollar was accounted for - and this never happens. Dumping more money in the same old way is not only wasteful, but stupid and harmful; it is also ignoring some obvious points.

If Malawi is worse educated, more plagued by illness and bad services, poorer than it was when I lived and worked there in the early 60's, it is not for lack of outside help or donor money. Malawi has been the beneficiary of many thousands of foreign teachers, doctors and nurses, and large amounts of financial aid, and yet it has declined from a country with promise to a failed state. ...

When Malawi's minister of education was accused of stealing millions of dollars from the education budget in 2000, and the Zambian president was charged with stealing from the treasury, and Nigeria squandered its oil wealth, what happened? The simplifiers of Africa's problems kept calling for debt relief and more aid. I got a dusty reception lecturing at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation when I pointed out the successes of responsible policies in Botswana, compared with the kleptomania of its neighbors. Donors enable embezzlement by turning a blind eye to bad governance, rigged elections and the deeper reasons these countries are failing. ...

Bono, in his role as Mrs. Jellyby in a 10-gallon hat, not only believes that he has the solution to Africa's ills, he is also shouting so loud that other people seem to trust his answers. He traveled in 2002 to Africa with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, urging debt forgiveness. He recently had lunch at the White House, where he expounded upon the "more money" platform and how African countries are uniquely futile.

But are they? Had Bono looked closely at Malawi he would have seen an earlier incarnation of his own Ireland. Both countries were characterized for centuries by famine, religious strife, infighting, unruly families, hubristic clan chiefs, malnutrition, failed crops, ancient orthodoxies, dental problems and fickle weather. Malawi had a similar sense of grievance, was also colonized by absentee British landlords and was priest-ridden, too. ...

Africa has no real shortage of capable people - or even of money. The patronizing attention of donors has done violence to Africa's belief in itself, but even in the absence of responsible leadership, Africans themselves have proven how resilient they can

Be Cautious

[tnsimonson]

Carefully research any charitable organization to which you donate. Charity scams proliferate during the holiday season. Remember a fool and his money are . . . hey, where's my wallet!

The Brattle Theater

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't live in Cambridge anymore, but when I did I loved the Brattle. I'll be sorry to see it go, if it does. One of my first dates with the woman I've been with for almost six years now was seeing _Being John Malkovich_ at the Brattle.

Salvation Army gets presidential executive order

[msblack]

Back in January 2001, the very first act of our current president above everything else was to grant the Salvation Army a Presidential Executive Order. The Executive Order exempted the Salvation Army from all EEOP guidelines in non-religous hiring activities. EEOP: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, rules that prohibit employement discrimination. The act allowed the Salvation Army to refuse hiring non-Christians for jobs. No other employer in the United States has such an exemption.

Go Green

[Anonymous Coward]

Us computer people use a lot of energy - most of it from coal and natural gas - which pours tens of thousands of pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, per capita. I think most Slashdotters would agree that doing our part, as individuals, to live sustainably (at least energy-wise), is worthwhile.

It's not terribly expensive, either. You can buy $20 green tags (renewable energy subsidies - http://www.b-e-f.org/) to alleviate your residential CO2 footprint, and you can buy a Terrapass (http://www.terrapass.com/) to alleviate your car's CO2 footprint for the year ($30-80). The Terrapass gets you more bang-for-your-buck than anything I've found so far - read about their projects to understand why - it's very cool.

Green tags and Terrapasses also make great holiday gifts for your eco-minded friends.

I would also argue that this isn't exactly a "charity", but more of a *responsibility* on each of our parts, for those of us who can afford it. And yes, there are other important charities centered around people, and you should give money to them *as well*.

ATTN: asshole begger/choser

[everettpf3]

You're getting this shit for free, and announcing in your sig that you don't even want to work, so:
STFU!

Evidence is the new rubber

[kale77in]

If you can't accept that ANY Christian might be capable of genuine selfless care for others -- simply because they're a Christian -- then it seems to me your bigotry is at least as bad as anything you claim to be opposing.

• Some Christians seem happy -- It's all a front!
• Some Christians don't seem happy -- See! I told you it was all a front!
• Some Christians don't help people -- See! They're all hypocrites!
• Some Christians help people -- Arg!! They're trying to convert you!!
• Some Christians don't convert people -- See! They KNOW it's all a sham.

And so on for a very long time... And "Jesusism?" -- c'mon, the hard-core skeptics all say 'Jebus' now, don't they? It's so... y'know... intellectual.