Philanthropy
sciencewoman | September 30, 2009It's October, one the busiest months of the year. It's the month with Earth Science Week, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Domestic Violence Awareness Month...but one of the happiest features of October is the annual DonorsChoose Social Media Challenge, when we bloggers and tweeters get to exhort our readers to support public school students throughout the US, Alice and I are both going to be busy off-line over the coming weeks, but we're never too busy to give a bit of time and money to help the next generation of scientists and engineers.
This year we are focusing on efforts of bringing…
jstemwedel | September 30, 2009Around this corner of the blogosphere, folks frequently bemoan the sorry state of the public's scientific literacy and engagement. People fret about whether our children is are learning what they should about science, math, and critical reasoning. Netizens speculate on the destination of the handbasket in which we seem to be riding.
In light of the big problems that seem insurmountable, we should welcome the opportunity to do something small that can have an immediate impact.
During the month of October, a bunch of us ScienceBlogs bloggers will be participating in the annual…
sciencewoman | July 20, 2009Have you seen Ethan Siegel? He's the blogger behind Starts with a Bang. The guy has got a lot of hair!
And he's offering to shave his head if 100 unique commenters each give at least $10 dollars or 4 hours of their time to the charity of their choice. What a great way to give people a little kick in the butt to do something good.
Ethan's post reminded me that I still hadn't completed our promised giving for the Silence is the Enemy project. Alice and I promised to double the amount we were paid for clicks in the month of June. We gave half of that money to Doctors without Borders (MSF) and…
jstemwedel | July 19, 2009Over at Starts with a Bang, Ethan Siegel lays it on the line:
I have a challenge for everyone who reads this.
Donate at least ten dollars (or ten euros, or ten pounds, or whatever's the closest equivalent in your currency) or volunteer at least four hours at whatever charitable organization you choose.
When you do it, leave a comment at the bottom of this post, telling us:
what you donated/volunteered to do,
what organization you donated to/volunteered for, and
why you chose that organization.
When I get 100 unique comments from people who have done this, I will shave my head.
If you take…
jstemwedel | June 1, 2009This month, Sheril Kirshenbaum and Dr. Isis are spearheading a blogospheric initiative to call attention to a continuing epidemic of mass rapes in Liberia even six years after the end of its 14 year civil war, and to try to do something about it.
Last month, Nicholas Kristof described the situation in the New York Times, touching on the particular case of a 7-year-old rape survivor named Jackie:
[S]omehow mass rape survived the end of the war; it has been easier to get men to relinquish their guns than their sense of sexual entitlement. So the security guard at Jackie's school, a man in his…
jstemwedel | March 25, 2009First about those carnivals:
*The deadline for submission to the second installment of the Diversity in Science carnival is midnight (EST) tonight. It's being hosted at Thus Spake Zuska and this month's topic is "Women Achievers in STEM - Past and Present."
I myself am trying to get a post up before the deadline. If you get in under the wire, or have already written a post that you think fits the theme, submit it here.
*The deadline for submission to the April installment of Scientiae, the women in science, engineering, technology, and math carnival, is March 29. The Candid Engineer is…
sciencewoman | February 11, 2009"Have you been following what's happening in Australia?"
That was the question I asked my morning class, even though it has nothing to do with the topic of the day's session. I was very pleased to see most of the heads nod and the hands raise in answer to my question. My students knew that the Australian state of Victoria is being devastated by wildfires that have killed at least 181 people and untold numbers of livestock. The fires have turned to ruins whole towns, with people trapped and unable to flee in time. It's awful to contemplate, but there is strong reason to suspect that at least…
skookumchick | January 26, 2009OH MY GOD OH MY GOD THE COOLEST THING CAME IN THE MAIL! LOOK LOOK LOOK!
IT IS A THANK-YOU BOOK OF DRAWINGS FROM THE KIDS WHO GOT OUR DONORS CHOOSE DONATIONS!!!!
I am SO TOTALLY excited. The book is AWESOME, and they sent photos too, but I don't want to put them up on the blog for the kids' sake. But trust me, they are all SUPER COOL.
Below the fold is the letter from their teacher... thank you so much, folks for your generosity to our Donors Choose challenge -- y'all completely rock.
(Click to embiggen)
skookumchick | January 3, 2009A couple of weeks ago, the Donors Choose people very nicely sent me 2 t-shirts to thank us for participating in the Scienceblogs Donors Choose challenge. I confess that I have more t-shirts than I need already, and the Sciencewomen Challenge is still live with two remaining projects. So... I'll send them to the first two Sciencewomen readers who donate $5 or more to either the remaining projects listed here. Email me your donation receipt and your preference of the two shirts below, and I'll let you know if you're the lucky winner!
Both shirts are men's L, and both were designed by blogger…
jstemwedel | December 31, 2008A colleague of Super Sally's forwarded her this*:
It's funny because it's true, and the pain isn't just from laughing so hard.
This seems like a very scary time to be near retirement age, since the value of so many retirement funds (invested in the stock market) has dropped so significantly. On the other hand, to the extent that the market mess leads to a decrease in jobs, it's not such a red-hot time to be years away from retirement age, either.
We can shake our tiny fists at all this. Or, to the extent that we can, we can shake our tiny checkbooks and try to bring a bit more light to…
jstemwedel | December 5, 2008I realize that I forgot to mention here that I've been writing posts on the Invitrogen-sponsored group blog What's New in Life Science Research. The blog is hosting discussions about stem cells, cloning, biodefense, and genetically modified organisms. (The cloning discussion just started yesterday.) As you might guess, I'm primarily blogging about the ethical dimensions of these biotechnologies. We'd love to have you get involved with the conversation.
In other news:
As of this morning, we have finished nearly all of our leftovers from Thanksgiving. All that remains is some cranberry…
skookumchick | November 12, 2008I'm just thrilled with our final numbers from our DonorsChoose campaign -- because of your generosity, $2953 are going to go help 1,126 needy kids learn some critically important science. And I'm also psyched that Sciencewomen came in second of all the Scienceblogs participating in both amount donated, and numbers of donors (43!!) We came in 4th in terms of the number of students reached. Congratulations, everybody.
I've also finally pulled together the list of winners of our t-shirt drawing. Methods and winners are below!
Okay, so I feel the need to share my "random selection" in a…
skookumchick | November 2, 2008I spent my "extra" hour from Daylight Savings doing some wrapping up our DonorsChoose campaign. Well, folks, you've done a tremendous job. Forty-two Sciencewomen readers contributed a total of $1863 to help 917 needy kids learn about science and engineering. We came in SECOND of all the Scienceblogger challenges in terms of number of donors, which I am just completely ecstatic about, and fifth in terms of the number of kids we've helped. You all completely rock. Thank you so very much.
Below the fold is the first part of our Donors Choose wrap-up: where should the Sb money go, and how…
jstemwedel | October 31, 2008This is the last day of Blogger Challenge 2008.
You have mere hours left to give to our challenges and get in on Seed's prize drawing (which includes that spiffy iPod Touch).
Don't forget that individual ScienceBloggers are offering a variety of incentives of their own to help persuade you to kick in a bit of money to fund public school classroom projects. And lest it escape your notice, Jessica Palmer is offering an original painting to one of her donors. (She's an actual artist, so this is a big deal.)
Our totals so far this year have ... reflected the current economic uncertainty. We…
sciencewoman | October 30, 2008It's the very last day of our DonorsChoose Reader Challenge for 2008. I just want to say how amazed I am by the generosity of our readers. I'm particularly proud that we have far more donors than many of our more widely read competitors er, Sciblings.
By the time we add in the contribution from Seed and the matches promised by Alice and I, we'll be well over our $2000 goal.
Yay, us!
So in these waning hours of our pledge drive er, reader challenge, there's only four reasons remaining to donate.
4. A chance to win a fabulous Yellow Ibis t-shirt, hopefully one of our Sciencewomen custom tees.…
jstemwedel | October 28, 2008Reader Patrick made a generous donation to my challenge, and wrote:
I want to thank you for the posts on Ethics. It is a subject that I feel is mostly neglected during a scientist's formal education. We end up learning by example (not always good), but it should be a required course for everyone with an advanced degree.
Patrick requested a haiku on ethics ... but so far, I've been having trouble putting something meaningful into 17 syllables. So, I am hopeful that a villanelle about ethics will suffice.
Would it be honest? Would it be fair?
Size up the options in front of me.
O, to be…
jstemwedel | October 28, 2008Regular reader Duke (who this blogger knows as "Dad") made a generous contribution to my challenge and requested sprog art and a limerick on the subject of chemistry. (Like my mom, he indicated that this donation was to go to the "NO TATTOO" fundraising total.)
A lad from the Periodic Table
took offense at his wee bottle's label.
But both neutron emission
and spontaneous fission,
meant his isotopes just weren't stable.
The younger Free-Ride offspring's chemical illustration was inspired by the book reviewed here.
jstemwedel | October 27, 2008Regular commenter Super Sally (who this blogger knows as "Mom") made a generous contribution to my challenge and requested sprog art and a limerick on the subject of astronomy. (She also indicated that this donation was to go to the "NO TATTOO" fundraising total.)
If only I had a fancy overhead projector with which to show my gratitude ...
In dust and gas clouds dense and heated,
where hydrogen nuclei meet, it
won't take a contusion,
just nuclear fusion
to help a new star to get seeded.
And what is this stellar babe's destiny?
Depends on core temp' rature and density.
Red giant that burns…
skookumchick | October 27, 2008I'm very very behind on blogging. I have two conferences to write up for you, 3 blogs to share with you, and 3 update posts. But I have another migraine. So they will have to wait. But feel free to donate money to DonorsChoose in the meantime. And I am indeed sad for the little pre-engineering kids. And the blind kids who also need to learn science.
For an uplifting time, however, you can check out how Annika is doing. In 3 words: pretty darn good.
jstemwedel | October 27, 2008Ewan made a generous donation to one of the projects in my challenge and, as he did last year, he requested a poem illustrated by the sprogs on the subject of memory.
It turns out that drawing "memory" is pretty challenging! However, the sprogs worked out some ways to represent the concept of memory more concretely. So, we offer a poem, some illustration, and our thanks to Ewan:
"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance."
-- Hamlet, Act IV, scene v
I can't remember how to sit down
to write a proper poem,
though somehow I can remember the feel of the humid air,
the smell of summer in the…